Beautiful Losers - Lecture 1 and 2 - 6 & 13-10-11

So, for the first lecture we watched a film/documentary called the 'Beautiful Losers'. The film follows a group of American artists, who began their own movement in the 1990s that derives from skateboarding, graffiti, and underground music such as punk rock. They explain their lives, and what and how they got into art etc. The artists included in the film include: Thomas Campbell, Cheryl Dunn, Shepard Fairey, Harmony Korine, Geoff McFetridge, Barry McGee, Margaret Kilgallen, Mike Mills, Steven "Esp" Powers, Aaron Rose, Ed Templeton and Deanna Templeton. They made art that reflected the way they lived, and didn't conform to what was the norm of that time. They did what they wanted, and didn't care for the consequences. I admire this part of their attitude, and would love to take this aspect into my own work, but I can't seriously see it happening, as at the moment I am a bit too shy to break the boundaries etc. Maybe in the near future this will start to have a more predominant factor in my work.

The movement leans more towards the Post-Modernist movement, and because of this, a lot of people disregarded them, because it was a relatively new concept, and wasn't accepted by a lot of critics etc. The Beautiful Losers set up many exhibitions and galleries in disused, or run down buildings, and even used train carriages as some of their canvases. I also like this fact; that they would just draw wherever they are, and wouldn't care about where they were. They wouldn't just stick to pen and paper, they would use what they had, and make the most of it.

The film started off by the artists answering two questions: "What was your first memory of making something?" and "What did you want to be as a child?".  And then went on to show the lives of the artists, and their struggles, and how they evolved as artists through their shows, work and exhibitions.

Overall, the beautiful losers were a group of innovative artists, who made art from the way they lived, and their circumstances.  They were a influential part of the Post-Modernist movement, and are probably part of changing the way people see art and what to accept.