Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine
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Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine (pronounced Jucks-tah-pozz) is a magazine created in 1994 by a group of artists and collectors including Robert Williams[1], C.R. Stecyk, Greg Escalante and others to both help define and celebrate urban contemporary art. It is published by High Speed Productions, the same company who publishes Thrasher Skateboard magazine in San Francisco, California.
It reflects Williams' own sensibility—a combination of California "Big Daddy" Ed Roth-style pop surrealism (identified by some as synonymous with low brow art and others as its own genre, as detailed in low brow art entry)[2] and the serious figurative craftsmanship that is more likely to be found among illustrators than fine artists today.
Despite the street culture origins of the magazine, has evolved a bit into including many other forms and styles of artwork. The range of featured artist has infinite variety. Juxtapoz has also created a forum for getting submitted "Reader Art" out to the public.[3] The mission statement set out by the above mentioned creators of Juxtapoz Magazine was to "present art that is provacative, technically adept and worthy of exposure"[4] Juxtapoz features street art and pop culture imagery conveying a dissatisfaction with the conventional defenitions of art and art making. Two contemporary artists featured in Juxtapoz regularly are Shepard Fairey and MARS-1(aka Mario Marinez). Although these are two very different artists they represent the broad spectrum of work shown in Juxtapoz Art and Culture magazine. Like many of the artists featured in Juxtapoz these two began as street artists, displaying their work on the urban canvases of the cities that they lived in.[5] Both MARS-1 and Shepard Fairey sarted with graffiti type work and a spray can in hand like so many other artists of their generation. Since the beginning they have both evolved into their own distinct styles as artists and graffiti has for both, become more of a hobby. Fairey is more of an illustrator known for his print of Barack Obama as well as the Obey skate board logo. MARS-1 is based out of San Francisco where he finds support in its strong art community and also where he attended the San Francisco Academy of Art. The work of MARS-1 is viewed and described as "quasi-organic" his surreal mystical imagery has become the bases for his fame, it has even been described as psychadellic. The paitings by MARS-1 display "dreamlike worlds and etherial landscapes"[6]
Many famed illustrators and painters received their first serious recognition in Juxtapoz, including Lori Earley, Mark Ryden, among others. Shepard Fairey has been called one of the most notorious street artists of his generation has also been featured in Juxtapose numerous times over the course of his career. Mr.Fairey, a Boston native, soon went on to study at RISD(Rhode Island School of Design)Where he first printed his infamous "Andre the Giant has a Posse" stickers at a local kinkos in 1997. Since the 2008 Presidential election his image of president Obama has become one of the most widely recognized likeness to the president in the world.[citation needed] Shepard Fairey continues to contribute to juxtapoz as his work continues to press political and social boundaries. Lately he has produced several propaganda pieces realting to imigration and human rights. His last artivle in Juxtapoz was regarding the largest collection of his work to be shown to date, to be held at the new Boston Museum of Fine Art starting in April 2009.[7]
Currently, Juxtapoz has the largest circulation of any art magazine in the United States.[citation needed]
Gwynned Vitello, C.R. Stecyk III, along with Williams, are executive editors.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Collector's Quest Magazine
- ^ LowBrow Art World
- ^ [1]
- ^ [www.bigdaddy.com]
- ^ http://www.johnathanlevinegallery.com/
- ^ http://www.formatmag.com/
- ^ [2]
