May 4, 2009

I came to LA because this is where the whole Lowbrow Art scene began. Lowbrow was a slap in the face to the Fine Art community. Robert Williams, Big Daddy Roth, R. Crumb…they said a hearty “Eat my Ass!” to the art world that rejected and ignored them. They created a support network of like minded artists, hosted their own art exhibits, operated on their own terms, and seriously fucked shit up! Decades have passed and almost every member of that scene has tasted an abundance of success. Their work sells for tens of thousands and is immediately recognized by a large segment of the population. I love these artists, respect and admire them…but they are no longer dangerous.

With commercial success, you lose so much of the initial edge that made these artists important to me in the first place. I’ve always said that the underground is where the important, meaningful things happen. Look at the first Evil Dead movie and then look at the current Halloween franchise…Underground vs. Mainstream. You can love both, but there is a huge difference between the two. Often with a giant budget you are faced with so many compromising factors to the quality of the final product. Instead of originality, the audience is spoonfed a rehashed formula that satiates the masses but reeks of laziness.

Take away the cash pillow and that’s where the true passion, ingenuity, and creativity really shine. From an artist’s perspective, it equates to painting something and hoping it will sell as opposed to painting something and knowing it will sell because your fans have accepted the formula.

Mark Ryden is the Pearl Jam of the art world. Every college kid in an Ed Hardy hat and Von Dutch sweatpants knows who he is and wants a $1000 print of “The Creatrix” on their wall so they can impress the sheep they call friends. Technically, his paintings are beautifully rendered and impressive on such a large scale yet, financially, they alienate all but the wealthiest of his fan base. As such, I have a difficult time seeing his art as much more than a bright yellow Lamborghini going through the Burger King drive through. His art maintains this illusion of being edgy and underground but it’s really just a carrot insultingly dangled in front of middle class art lovers. For a lot of people, Ryden’s art quenches an indy culture thirst and this stops them from venturing beyond the confines of the art book they picked up at Urban Outfitters. Me? I want more, and I want art that I can relate to in my reality.

In the late 1800s, there were artists who were heralded as the be-all, end-all of the art world. Painters like William-Adolphe Bouguereau (The Birth of Venus) and Jean-Léon Gérôme (The Cockfight) sold artwork to only the wealthiest of collectors and their work was known in all of the prominent art circles of Europe. I’m sure every art dealer in Europe claimed association to the proven success of these artists in the same way every gallery in LA slurps on the collective cocks of people like Mark Ryden, Lori Earley, Audery Kawasaki, Lola, Craola, Kukula, and even Shag (Quick question about Shag…How can someone create art so sterile it removes all sexuality from the swinging era that it celebrates and yet still captures the hearts of everyone with a tiki mug hanging off their nipple? I do not get it). Commercial success in the art world does not mean “better” art. Vincent Van Gogh was more or less a contemporary of the above mentioned two artists. In sharp contrast to their situations, he lived in poverty without the support of the elite art traders and died an insane, penniless, failure. They’re all in museums now, but which name do most people instantly recognize, Bouguereau, Gérôme, or Van Gogh?

My point is simply this…an artist like Mark Ryden does not need your support. Be a fan if you truly dig his work, whatever. Just know that the man sells paintings for over a million dollars each and his next 20 paintings have probably sold before he’s even bought the canvas or decided how big the eyes should be. At this point in his career, he’s financially stable and is doing absolutely fine with or without you. I don’t even know where I would put a million dollar painting. In my $1400 a month apartment? It would look ridiculous nestled between my PX3 and my giant cat’s litterbox.

While the world is masturbating to artists like Ryden there are so many other amazing artists out there struggling Van Gogh-like and selling their work at a sliver of the price. Take a step outside your comfort zone and look at what is happening in the true underground. In my gallery alone, I have artists that will blow you away…Delphia, Clint Carney, Nicolas Caesar, Big Tasty, Erick De La Vega, Chuck Hodi, Dienzo, The Creep, Jeremy Cross, Peter Adamyan…stretching from Dark Art to pure Lowbrow. Don’t stop there, though, look around and look beyond the norm. Whatever your aesthetic, I’m confident you can find artists out there that you not only can afford but also stir up some cool shit inside you. When the radio forces the same song into your earholes every hour, you can either give up and buy the album or you can switch the station and search for something different. So, please, the next time your idiot friend wastes his entire savings on a crap limited edition Ryden print, piss in his Starbucks and show him the twenty pieces of original art you bought from up-and-coming artists who actually needed and appreciated the support. Decide your own tastes and strive for more, damn it.

Amen.

Next: How much is that Barker in the window?