PopDrawer: The Future is Not What it Used to Be, curated by Mike Stilkey

Thursday, October 6, 2011

At LeBasse Projects, opening October 8th, 6-9 PM. The Future is Not What it Used to Be, curated by Mike Stilkey

Jim Houser

Kelsey Brookes

Katrin Fridriks .jpg

Katrin Fridriks

What's Inside the PopDrawer?

Art, mostly. Affordable art, primarily. Accessible art, I hope. Never before has there been such a preponderance of original, exceptional, affordable art available to the novice art fan. Not only in canvas originals, but also in limited editions, in toys, in fashion, and on and on. PopDrawer scours the web, galleries, boutiques searching for great finds. Emerging artists, established artists with affordable products, and just plain cool stuff. The style on which PopDrawer mostly focuses is known by many names -- Pop, Surreal Pop, ModPop, Pervasive Art, Lowbrow... But PopDrawer will move beyond those boundaries as much as possible to bring you exciting, beautful things from all over the world. And please, email us with suggestions! We're always looking for great new stuff!

PopDrawer Style

PopDrawer style draws from pop culture all over the world, and is difficult to define. However, the art movement that comes closest to PopDrawer's sensibility is known by some as Pop Surrealism (or Surreal Pop), Lowbrow, ModPop, Pervasive Art, Outsider Art, and some others. One of the best discussions of this movement is authored by Kristen Anderson, author of Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art, and owner of Seattle's exceptional Roq La Rue Gallery. (Here's a good interview with Ms. Anderson). In a quote from her book, she describes the art of this movement as "an amalgamation of so many things: tattoo, graffiti, retro culture, cartoons, etc., all mashed up and used to create something that transcend[s] its mere visual appeal... something that [speaks] profoundly... about using pop culture's castoff detritus to create something meaningful and beautiful."

But see for yourself, in the work of just a select few of the masters of modern pop art. Mark Ryden, Takashi Murakami, Tim Biskup, Gary Baseman, Eric White, Joe Sorren. So many more. But we'll leave that to the posts. ;)

Why PopDrawer?

So much to want, so little time. Or so little money. Many would (and do) find this a disgusting, materialistic idea. But I say embrace it. Humans are acquisitive by nature. We acquire piles and piles of stuff, forcing ourselves to live in smaller and smaller spaces amidst the stuff. Our stuff helps define who we are, and what we want to tell the world about ourselves. Our stuff is our identity. And in a society of billions, we strive to define what makes us different from all the others, or to pigeonhole ourselves into smaller, less overwhelming subsets of society. The good news is, never before has it been easier and more enjoyable than to find and surround ourselves with beautiful things that make us happy, that help us define ourselves. The drawer from which to choose the items in our lives is deeper and richer than ever before. And more affordable. And herein lies the purpose of PopDrawer.

Art, fashion, style, content. These are the things that we use to define ourselves. Personally, PopDrawer has always veered towards the amorphous style generally referred to as Pop in the art world. Pop embraces our shared popular culture, it embraces the past both distant and recent, it embraces both high brow and low brow, both sacred and profane. (See Wikipedia: Pop Art) This site, in particular, deals mostly a subgroup of Pop art and culture known variously as Surreal Pop, ModPop, Pervasive Art, Lowbrow, and others. But we just call it Stuff We Like. (See PopDrawer
Style below).

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Thursday, October 6, 2011

The Future is Not What it Used to Be, curated by Mike Stilkey

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