The Kings and Queens of Cool

"Rama Rocky & Brahma Bullwinkle In The Chant For World Peas" will be included in ¡Orale! The Kings and Queens of Cool at The Harwood Museum of Art. Exhibit runs from September 20, 2014 - January 25, 2015

I am excited and honored to be included in ¡Orale! The Kings and Queens of Cool, at The Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico.   Celebrating and exploring different aspects of the Lowbrow/Post Pop genre that grew out of West Coast surfer, car and street culture ¡Orale! The Kings and Queens of Cool  is the uniting theme for four exhibitions. 

Lowbrow Insurgence: The Rise of Post-Pop Art  includes internationally recognized artists
such as Robert Williams, Mark Ryden, Ron English, H.R. Giger, R. Crumb, Marion Peck, Stanley Mouse, Mark Bryan, Dennis Larkins, Winston Smith, Niagara, Anthony Ausgang, Esteban Bojorquez, Camille Rose Garcia, Von Dutch, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and more!

Nuevo Lowbrow:Pop Culture in the West will feature over 100 celebrated artists of the Post-Pop Generation including Bob Dob, Joel Nakamura, Gary Baseman, Douglas Johnson, Laurie Lipton, Ryan Singer, KRK Ryden, Tim Prythero, Joe Coleman, Max Lehman, Isabel Samaras, Conrad Cooper, Carrie Ann Baade, Toby Morfin, Rik Allen, Brandon Maldonado, Tim Biskip, El Moises, Ana Bagayan, Greg Moon and many more!  A selection of original art by pioneers of Rock and Underground Comix including R. Crumb, Rick Griffin, Gilbert Shelton, Wes Wilson, Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse will be exhibited in New Mexico for the first time.

Pinstripe Madera: Pinstriping as Minimalism  and El Tatuaje: The Tattoo in Underground Culture will run concurrently with Lowbrow Insurgence and Nuevo Lowbrow. 

Jina Brenneman, Curator of Exhibitions at the Harwood Museum of Art, states “Not surprisingly, the outlaw, seemingly expatriate state of New Mexico is a breeding ground for the ‘outsider’, the ‘unruly citizen’, the ‘underground artist’.  The descriptions for these archetypes relate very directly to Post-Pop influences and Lowbrow subject matter. Cars, pin-ups, punk, rock and roll, comics, tattoo, prison art, graffiti, pulp, surfer, airbrushed – anything from the streets and of the people, art that embodies technical craftsmanship blended with fantastical imagery and visually dynamic narratives.”

Brenneman continues, “When we trace the lineage of these new expressions, we have seen cultural influences as widespread as Kustom Kar Kulture, Surfing and Street Art, Underground Comix and Rock Art to Tattoo and Saturday Morning Cartoons! Add to these populist forms the powerful influence of Pop Art and Surrealism, a renewed interest in narrative content (story telling) and a new aesthetic begins to emerge. Possibly the most compelling aspect of all of this has been how seemingly disparate parallel paths, bending to the subtle arc of history, have coalesced in this time and place where past, present and future converge! Kings and Queens of Cool!

Brenneman teamed up with artist Dennis Larkins and co-curators Esteban Bojorquez, Greg Moon, Toby Morfin and El Moises to create ¡Orale! The Kings and Queens of Cool. The exhibition will be accompanied by a 100-page full-color catalog, designed by Esteban and Karen Bojorquez, documenting the artists in the exhibition.

For more information and previews of the art!
http://harwoodmuseum.org/exhibitions/upcoming

Exhibition Opening Events

Director’s Circles & VIP Preview Reception
Thursday, September 18, 5-7 pm

Alliance Members’ Opening Reception
Friday, September 19, 5-7 pm

Free Museum Admission
Saturday, September 20, 10 a.m-5 p.m.

Drive In Night/Street Party 
Harwood Museum of Art and Ledoux Street Businesses
Saturday, September 20, 4 p.m.-8 p.m.
Car show, Live music, artist talk

Edited from June 6, 2014 Harwood Museum of Art press release.
The exhibit runs from September 20, 2014 through January 25, 2015.