art appreciation: pop surrealism2005.03.09

I find it ironic that only now, at 33 years of age, I have begun to develop a taste for art. Or, to be more clear: I have started to find art that I really like.

Generally speaking, I've learned that all of the art that I like falls under a single category: Pop Surrealism or "Lowbrow". Who knew these things? Well, sure, all my friends who nodded at me in that "oh, you're so cute when you come out of your bubble once a year" kind of way. But no one else. Honestly.

Now that I have a definable taste in art, it's time to start collecting some of these pieces around me. In an ideal world, here's the art that I'd have in my home:

Chip Simons - I'd love to have a triptych of his Bunnies photos.

Ray Caesar - Every time I see his work, I'm more blown away by it. This may actually be the first piece I add to my collection - I'm just trying to decide between his Guardian print, or his Bride print. He recently did a show up here in Toronto (he may be a Torontonian, I can't be sure...) recently, but I missed it because I didn't find out early enough.

Mark Ryden - Another incredible collection of work. His "Bunnies & Bees" collection has astounded me for years. I'd give just about anything for one of his pieces, particularly his "Little Boy Blue". Unfortunately, this guy's art can run from 50K-500K for a single original piece. It will be a while before I ever get around to owning one of his pieces.

Ana Bagayan - Lovely and childlike, this is the art I'm coming to understand I love the best. Like slighly warped Golden Books illustrations.

Daniel Peacock - His style reminds me of a warped version of 1930's circus posters. They're haunting and strange and I can't seem to look away.

Luke Chueh - Because it seems one of the "staples" of this art movement is bunnies, which seem to "hop" up in dozens of different artists' work. This guy, however, does bunnies the best. IMO.

Scott Musgrove - Whose style is right on target with what I like, if only there were other options than fauna. Not a big fan of fauna on my walls. Well, other than bunnies.

To further my learning in this area, I recently picked up a copy of Pop Surrealism, which features work from 23 of the top artists in this area, including most of the people mentioned above. It's a fabulous book and I can't believe it took me this long to discover this. There's also a magazine just for this kind of art, if you find yourself as fascinated as I and similarly bubble-imposed: Juxtapoz.

If you know of any artists I should know about that I may have missed, leave it in the comments! I'm building one hell of a bookmark folder for this stuff, for lazy Saturday (mmmmmrmrmm... or Wednesday) mornings when I want to catch up on what's new with my favorite artists.

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