THEN AND NOW
Words: Cameron Cowan
Lowbrow art is a pop art movement from a foundational perspective that created the
insane artwork that powered the social movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s. It’s the basis of
the modern tattoo styles and rightly so, the foundations of modern tattooing are within
the fundamentals of lowbrow artistry. The whimsical worlds of Escher (a contemporary)
and Tim Burton can thank lowbrow art for their beginning and their popular
acceptance. This art movement represented a time when we needed to go mad with
women flying on pizzas and monsters racing in a 36 Ford. It’s all around us, in fashion,
post modern art, street art, and the very pages of this magazine. The exaggerated
lines and figures and the cartoony manner in which lowbrow art is drawn lends itself to
telling a story, mu