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Pop Culture

Important Contemporary Pop-Surrealist and Collage Artists

Last Modified April 20, 2020 Leave a Comment

Known alternatively as the Lowbrow movement, Pop Surrealism is an art form that originated in LA’s underground scene in the 1970s. Like other surrealist art forms, lowbrow art strives to reach deep into the unconscious mind and bring to life our innermost thoughts. Our compulsions, hidden memories, and more are displayed in unusual and absurd ways, no matter how light or dark. In this movement, however, artists draw inspiration from popular culture. In a pop surrealist collage, an artist may take inspiration from cartoons, street art, various music scenes, comics, pinups, and modern-day brands, amongst other things.

Pop surrealism is all about breaking the rules of conventional art— that’s why lowbrow artists strive to make up their own. Some critics turn their noses up at this art movement and, at times, even question its validity. Nonetheless, pop surrealists understand the power of borrowing aspects of pop culture and turning them on their head to create something unique, that connects with audiences in an utterly profound way.

Are you interested in learning more about the lowbrow movement? Take a look at the following profiles of some of the world’s best pop surrealist collage artists. 

Some of Today’s Best Lowbrow and Collage Artists

Side Dimes

Mikayla Lapierre is a Brooklyn based art director with a strong background in advertising design and graphic design. Lapierre’s works, self-titled “Side Dimes”, dissect the cultural and societal norms surrounding femininity. In most of her works, she takes 18th and 19th-century portraiture and digitally imprints modern-day items that the women in her pieces interact with. The women in these classical portraits can be seen chewing bubblegum, posing with fast food, and wearing branded jewelry. In her most recent series, Lapierre experiments with personal protective equipment and stacks of toilet paper in her Social Distancing Series — a response to the current events surrounding COVID-19. 

Linz Sepe

San Diego artist Lindsey “Linz” Sepe is known for her otherworldly prints. The events in her works feel as though they are happening on another planet, or perhaps even an Earth in another dimension. From skateboarding on Saturn’s rings to lounging on the moon to trippy time warps, Sepe’s works are far from boring to look at. West-coast beach pop influences are highly apparent in Sepe’s pieces. She often incorporates vintage photos of bikini-clad models, palm trees, vintage architecture, and intense pops of color.

Jeff Drew Pictures

Jeff Drew is a musician, animator, and graphic designer. Where he’s gaining increasing notoriety, however, is his surrealist artwork. Drew takes inspiration from a seemingly endless number of sources, but perhaps the two most apparent are vintage movie (as well as burlesque) posters and the world of the occult. Much like a deck of tarot cards, Drew encapsulates many of his works with elaborate borders and labels his creations with bold graphic titles or descriptions. Drew often plays with the concept of duality, whether it’s through the literal use of masks or the interpretation of beloved television characters as more than what they seem. 

Tyler Varsell

Artist and illustrator Tyler Varsell is based in Connecticut. Her works have been published in esteemed publications like the New York Times and Kolaj Magazine. Varsell uses collage as a means of identifying and questioning our world. Though her emotional intent varies between works, as with all artists, Varsells works have a tranquil and even comforting quality about them. Varsell’s collages mesh symbols of her own subconscious thoughts and memories with appealing landscapes and symbols that bring a smile to the viewer’s face. After all, what food lover wouldn’t want to smother themselves in a bed of mac & cheese?

Taudalpoi

Tau Dal Poi (stylized online as “Taudalpoi”) is a Norweigan artist based currently in London. His works are simpler in design than some of the other artists on this list, but no less expertly crafted. Taudalpoi’s mixes awe-inspiring cosmic graphics with natural landscapes, or pieces of modern architecture — or, in some cases, both. The human subjects in his prints are often miniaturized, causing the viewer to reflect on how small we truly are in this vast universe. While other artists push to make showcase this fact as sobering, or even disheartening, Taudalpoi’s subjects enjoy the expanse, feeling joy, tranquility, freedom, and power. As a result, we feel the same. 

Phil Jones

Artist and product designer Phil Jones has an incredible sense of humor, which he imbues in nearly everything he creates. Jones works across a variety of mediums, including film, photography, and design. If you aren’t aware of his “Lord of the Flies” swatter, you should be. The majority of Jones’ artwork is more print than collage work, and these prints are minimalist in nature. Nonetheless, they are surrealist works that comment on various aspects of popular culture. Jones makes it his challenge to take idioms and puns and turn them into lighthearted pictures that are bound to make you smile.

Lorien Stern

Graphic and ceramic artist Lorien Stern runs her brand out of Inyokern California. In her work, her intention is to bring joy to her audience through her rounded and inviting designs and comforting subject matter. Stern’s main subjects are animals of several varieties. She displays keen interests in predators and marine life (mainly sharks), the intimidating features of which she disarms with bright colors and bright prints. In her creations, Stern takes these real-life animals and turns them into surreal creations — fantasy creatures that leave adults and children alike in awe.

Heather Heininge

The works of Heather Heininge blur the lines between surrealist collage and reality. The stunning landscapes in her prints are so artfully crafted together, you might confuse them for photographs of real places. While this bafflement is a coveted reaction by most artists in the world of lowbrow, Heininge’s collages are anything but true to life. Heininge often experiments with doorways and portals to other worlds. Her human subjects are nearly always in a state of travel or contemplation — perhaps a purposeful reflection on the human desire to search for more on both spiritual and physical plains. 

Luisa Azevedo

Based in Lisbon, Portugal, Luisa Azevedo has turned heads in the art world since she was 18 years old. Azevedo started experimenting with surrealism in 2015. After some practice, she began to develop her own unique style a year later. She began using real-life photographs of locations, objects, and animals to build fantasy creations that any Hollywood exec would beg to use as conceptual work for their next big feature. In her efforts to satisfy her need for magic, Azevedo has used flora and fauna to create hundreds of fantastical creatures and environments that anyone would hope to visit.  

Justine Henderson

Expert photographer and salsa maker extraordinaire, Justine Henderson is also beginning to dive into the world of pop surrealism. In her collage work, Henderson experiments with wide-open spaces like desert plains, empty roads, and serene mountain ranges. Her sources are typically vintage, as seen in her use of a gun-slinging western hero in her print, The Gods Must Be Crazy. In each piece, she gives her audience an intriguing focal point, which is often out-of-place in contrast to the rest of the setting. Though her catalog of collage work is currently limited, her pieces have gained high favor in the art community.

Mr.babies

A self-described “psychedelic analog collage artist”, the Arizona-based Mr.babies is well on his way to becoming a household name in the world of surrealist art. Mr.babies uses collage as a form of meditation and reflection. He starts with a vintage base and works digitally to create a psychedelic symphony of mind-blowing imagery. His expertly crafted collages are at times so intricate that one could spend hours finding new meaning in every square inch. At other times, Mr.babies delivers simpler works meant to convey a single message or emotion.

Irie Wata

Irie Wata’s collages can be identified for their tendencies to bend the physical rules of our world. In her prints, you can find people frolicking and driving their cars in the sky, playing pool on the moon, and relaxing by the world’s literal edge. Wata creates a stark dichotomy in each and every one of her pieces. She mixes the activities of everyday living with environmental oddities and even catastrophic events. Though her interpretation can vary between viewers, Wata seems to illustrate humanity’s ignorance of the beauty of our planet – and the catastrophe we cause when we take it for granted.  

Richard Vergez

Born in Philadelphia and currently based in South Florida, Cuban-American artist Richard Vergez uses collage to showcase his ideas and perspectives on how human beings interact with each other. Vergez’s work has been featured in New York, Chicago, Londo, France, and Argentina, among others. His mixed-media collages are often minimalist works — a few special elements chosen to help Vergez create profound stories. Nearly all of his works are human-centric; his subjects are often depicted in mid-action or altered to showcase specific ideas about the human psyche. 

As you can see from the wondrous works of these artists, pop surrealism varies significantly in design and execution. Pop culture is vast, and an artist could head in any direction when developing concepts and deciding which media they should use to convey them. This, however, is what makes pop surrealist collage work so profound.

Filed Under: Collage, Print Tagged With: Juxtaposition, lowbrow, Pop Culture, pop-surreal, Psychological

“The Surrealists” Film on Kickstarter

Last Modified October 3, 2019

Surrealism: a 20th 21st-century avant-garde movement in art and literature that sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind…

One hundred years ago, with their world on the brink of chaos, a pack of misfits called “The Surrealists” banded together to make art that would reject logic and reason, with a goal of saving humanity by highlighting the absurdity of life. They were sort of like an artsy Garageband, improv troupe, and fight club all wrapped into one.

In this series, we are rebooting this idea by dropping Salvador Dalí, Frida Kahlo and friends into 2019, arming them with today’s technology and social media, and letting them go bananas! We will watch these creators launch a surrealist revolution from their clubhouse, engaging in bizarre video art projects and hedonist behavior, achieving fame and infamy, and struggling to preserve their ideals while becoming drunk with fame and fortune. Or to put it more plainly: it’s Moulin Rouge meets Silicon Valley! Or Girls with Dali and Frida!

We will also refer to, and periodically see, elements of this bizarro 21st century that parallel the history of the 1900s. Imagine Hitler is on Twitter, Charlie Chaplin’s doing rom coms, Louis Armstrong is dropping music vids, and Sigmund Freud is giving Ted Talks. These glimpses of that world will be provided by what the main characters see on their tablets, phones, and laptops, and well as cameos by secondary characters coming in and out of their scene.

By melding these centuries together we will be able to use these iconic figures from history to comment on and better understand the times we live in and the cyclical patterns of humanity that never seem to change. We will deal with timely issues like art’s ability to effect change, the difference between how we present ourselves and actually live, and how the temptations of fame and fortune can change one’s ideals. All the while we will be telling the very real story of how the surrealist movement started, progressed, and disbanded while giving viewers the joy of seeing what these brilliant artists would do with modern technology and social media.

Back this Project on Kickstarter

The Surrealists is a short film about Salvador Dalí and the birth of the Surrealist movement…if it happened today.

About

One hundred years ago, a rogue Freudian psychologist named André Breton and his wild posse of artists that included Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Frida Kahlo, Man Ray and others, launched a “revolution of the mind” called “Surrealism.” This revolution, which started as an exercise in exploring the unconscious mind, became a cultural phenomenon, thanks to a young entrepreneur named Peggy Guggenheim.

Why Make This Film Now?

The story of these artists reacting to a world that no longer makes sense feels as fresh today as it ever has. That is why I am making a film that will tell the story of the surrealist movement if it were to happen today, with these famous artists as millennial creators on social media, reacting to a chaotic world. I have pitched this story to several networks and studios they thought it was “too out there” for viewers. I think they are wrong and I want you to help me prove them so. A donation, however small, to “The Surrealists” is a vote for celebrating these great artists and telling their fascinating story in a very modern way, while drawing important parallels between our world and theirs.

Back this Project on Kickstarter

About The Film Maker

Trevor Williams is a filmmaker who specializes in delivering unique, slick, and funny content for TV and Web. His directing, editing and writing credits include Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, The New Yorker, and IFC, as well as commercial clients such as UPS, Samsung, and Hi-Chews. He has won several awards for his web-series and short films. Trevor first cut his teeth in showbiz as a comedian and commercial actor before becoming an in-house director of scores of video at UCB Comedy. In 2013, he co-founded Pig Apple, a production company that specializes in live-action, animation, and kickstarted short films such as “The Jane” and “The Surrealists”!

Back this Project on Kickstarter

Filed Under: Video and Cinema Tagged With: Pop Culture, Psychological, Whimsical

Genres: Surrealism

Stephen Gibb

Last Modified August 18, 2019 Leave a Comment

Caught - by Stephen Gibb
Contemplation - by Stephen Gibb
Diamonds - by Stephen Gibb
Dopamine - by Stephen Gibb
Hollow Man - by Stephen Gibb
Lost - by Stephen Gibb
Marshmallow - by Stephen Gibb
Out of your mind - by Stephen Gibb
Take - by Stephen Gibb
Time Idioms - by Stephen Gibb
Uncanny Valley - By Stephen Gibb

Artist Statement

I imagine a world where the visually rich language of fairy tales and nursery rhymes extends into adulthood. The traditional nature of this kind storytelling is best presented with visual aids; simple, straightforward text accompanied by fantastic illustrations. In our culture, this is a conventional part of our collective upbringing and experience. These stories often convey lessons, which are coded in familiar, symbolic language, and are likely where we first encounter metaphor and allegory.

We carry these symbolic codes into adulthood—like wolf equals bad, pig equals good. The narratives I deliver in my paintings utilize this common trove of visual references; however with more mature and timely messages.

The intertwined relationship between language and image has always guided me in constructing my artwork—using visual puns, symbolic themes and literal translations from words into paintings. Often the compositions and assemblies of characters seem to clash in a surreal incongruence, but on some level, they relate by a verbal association or some idiomatic commonality. My aim is to exploit these visual conventions and present something visually arousing with dynamic color and compelling content.

The level of “payoff” sophistication that the viewer “gets” from the paintings is relative to their own personal experience and history. There may be universal themes revealed, and there may be idiosyncratic dead ends. There is no correct reading of the images other than what the viewer extracts on their own. Even my opinion and the depth of what they mean to me may change from day to day.

Biography

Stephen Gibb lives and works in the small town of Amherstburg, in southern Ontario, Canada and maintains a second studio in Windsor. He earned a B.F.A. in visual arts from the University of Windsor and is currently represented by the St. Germain gallery in Toronto. Among the cities he has exhibited in are San Diego, Sacramento, and Hollywood— the hotbed of California’s Lowbrow and Pop Surrealism community. His work is collected around the globe and has gained widening interest since working on the album art for hip hop artist Trippie Redd.

Links:

facebook.com/bubblegumsurrealism/
instagram.com/stephengibbart/
stephengibb.com/gallery/

Filed Under: Painting Tagged With: Alegorical, Figurative, Painterly, Pop Culture, Psychological, Whimsical

Genres: Low Brow and Pop Surrealism

Get Out, Atlanta, Sorry to Bother You, and The Afro-Surrealist Film Movement

Last Modified August 28, 2018 Leave a Comment

Add “Sorry To Bother You” to the mix and there appears to be an Afro-Surrealism resurgence in Black cinema.

"Get Out" Movie Still

Surrealism is the 20-century avant-garde artistic and literary movement that sought to stir the creative potential of the unconscious mind position seemingly irrational imagery adjacent to one another. Artist Salvador Dali is among the most respect of that era.

Surrealism in film draws upon many of the philosophical principles as in the art world, using shocking, irrational and absurd imagery to challenge conventional reality. American filmmaker David Lynch’s Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive are each considered among the best contemporary examples of this technique, while Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Serling were said to have each incorporated some surrealist ideals in their works.

First coined in 2009 by New Jersey’s Poet Laureate Amiri Baraka, Afro Surrealism focuses on the present day experience of African Americans as interpreted via artistic endeavor.

Read the full article at theshadowleague.com

What is Afro-Surrealism?

Afro-Surrealism or Afrosurrealism is a literary and cultural aesthetic that is a response to mainstream surrealism in order to reflect the lived experience of people of color. First coined by Amiri Baraka in 1974,[1] this movement focuses on the present day experience of African Americans. Afro-Surrealism is based on the manifesto written by D. Scot Miller, in which he says, “Afro-Surrealism sees that all ‘others’ who create from their actual, lived experience are surrealist…” The manifesto delineates Afro-Surrealism from Surrealism and Afro-Futurism. The manifesto also declares the necessity of Afro-Surrealism, especially in San Francisco, California. The manifesto lists ten tenants that Afro-Surrealism follows including how “Afro-Surrealists restore the cult of the past,” and how “Afro-Surreal presupposes that beyond this visible world, there is an invisible world striving to manifest, and it is our job to uncover it.”

Via Wikipedia.

Filed Under: Video and Cinema Tagged With: Alegorical, Cinema, Politics, Pop Culture, Psychological

Genres: afro-surrealism, Surrealism

Beth Hoeckel

Last Modified February 10, 2018 Leave a Comment

Mirage - By Beth Hoeckel
Cover Up - By Beth Hoeckel
Blow a Wish - By Beth Hoeckel
Dredge - By Beth Hoeckel
Seethe - by Beth Hoeckel
Psyche - by Beth Hoeckel
Clear History - by Beth Hoeckel
Immortelle - by Beth Hoeckel
Birthday Present - by Beth Hoeckel
Night Rainbow - by Beth Hoeckel
Creation - by Beth Hoeckel
Ranges - by Beth Hoeckel
Peachy - by Beth Hoeckel
Plume - by Beth Hoeckel
Get Over It - by Beth Hoeckel
Photo Synthesis - by Beth Hoeckel
Holy Mountain - by Beth Hoeckel
Distance - by Beth Hoeckel
Solar Eclipse - by Beth Hoeckel
Count Sheep - by Beth Hoeckel
Home - by Beth Hoeckel
Star Chart - by Beth Hoeckel
Volcano at Night - by Beth Hoeckel
Ancients - by Beth Hoeckel
Golden Moon - by Beth Hoeckel
April Showers - by Beth Hoeckel
Sunbathing - by Beth Hoeckel
Entrance - by Beth Hoeckel
Clairvoyance - by Beth Hoeckel
Currents - by Beth Hoeckel
Water Signs - by Beth Hoeckel
Campground - by Beth Hoeckel
Sleepless - by Beth Hoeckel
Moon River - by Beth Hoeckel
Ember - by Beth Hoeckel
Glacial - by Beth Hoeckel
Moonrise - by Beth Hoeckel

About Beth Hoeckel

Beth Hoeckel is a multidisciplinary artist and illustrator from Baltimore.

She earned a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she studied painting, photography, and printmaking— but her main area of expertise is in the medium of collage. Beth began her first widely-known series of collages in 2010, and has been a full-time freelance artist since 2012. Over the past 5 years her work has been exhibited around the world and published in many prestigious books and magazines.

Beth can currently be found creating collage and mixed media art for arts’ sake, as well as illustrating for a variety of clients including Rookie, Domino, The New York Times, and many more.

Beth Hoeckel Collage

Filed Under: Collage Tagged With: Found Materials, Juxtaposition, Limited Color Palette, Politics, Pop Culture

Genres: Surrealism

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