The Lives of Lowbrow Artists: Volume 1 Paperback – August 26, 2020

I enjoyed Fritz Costa’s “The Lives of Lowbrow Artists.” It’s an overview of some of the overlooked artists that talks about a movement I hadn’t heard of in a way that made me care. Fritz Costa traces the lives of five artists involved in the Pop Surreal art movement.The stories are deeply entertaining, though they can be overly wordy.My one critique with this book is that it contains no art — not even illustrations on the chapter pages. With such a startling cover, I thought the pages would be filled with art. At the very least Costa should have included pictures of the art the artists have created, rather than painstakingly writing about what their art looks like.

Fritz Costa’s ‘The Lives of Lowbrow Artists: Volume 1’ is a comprehensive overview of an oft-overlooked underground scene (sometimes referred to as ‘Pop Surreal’ art) and the artists responsible for it.Costa zeros in on five of the scene's most important figures: Josh Agle (a.k.a Shag), Miles Thompson, Derik Yaniger, Brandi Milne, and Tim Biskup. Utilizing first-hand accounts, Costa tells the story of the ‘Pop Surreal’ art movement by exploring the artists themselves, offering biographical overviews that illuminate the origins behind the art they created.The stories that follow are wildly entertaining, offering a handful of different perspectives on some incredibly interesting times. Not knowing that much about modern art, let alone a subversive offshoot, I found myself flipping from one page to the next eager to hear more. While there is a bit of overlap between the five artists, their perspectives and experiences are so different from each other, each chapter only adds to the overall ‘picture’ Costa attempts to paint.As others have mentioned, the only glaring disappointment here is the complete lack of photos and illustrations. While I’m sure there are rights and funds issues at play here, reading Costa’s thoughts on one artist after another only to have to pause every other page to google their work was a bit of a hindrance to the overall enjoyment of this novel—hopefully, this is something the author can amend with future pressings and/or volumes.That all being said, ‘The Lives of Lowbrow Artists: Volume 1’ is both informative and highly entertaining, one that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in modern contemporary art.

So THE LIVES OF LOWBROW ARTISTS VOL. 1 by Fritz Costa isn’t about Dogs Playing Poker and Margaret Keane’s Big Eyes paintings, like I thought it would be. Instead, this is a serious introductory essay and collection of five interviews highlighting successful artists. They are defined as lowbrow artists because cartoons, as well as other forces like punk music and tiki culture influence their work. Mr. Costa provides a level of detail into their lives that should inspire young artists everywhere. Based on his acknowledgements, he may have completed this project because of the pandemic. I gained so much knowledge reading about these artists during this same period because I can’t currently visit galleries and museums and miss that culture immensely.

Sometimes it's fun to just pick up a book about a subject you have no idea about and go into it with no expectations. This was that book for me and I learned so much about something I had no idea I was so interested in! This is a great read for anyone into pop surrealism, but also for anyone interested in anything outside the radar of mainstream. I learned so much, not only about the five artists featured, but about the motivation behind the genre. Yeah, there's no pictures but the book is about the artists and their stories, not necessarily the art they created. Really enjoyed this one!

Guess it's my fault for not reading the reviews, but how can you can have a book about artists and illustrators, and their art, and not have one single picture, aside from the front cover?

I’ve yet to finish the book but the culture around it is something that drew me in and will show support for.“Brand them losers -if you will but the Lowbrow or Pop Surreal art movement has been around for 30 years, has continuously evolved and more importantly is here to stay”That line alone is something I can rock with.

As a fan and maker of low brow art, I couldn’t resist picking up this book. I admit it’s disappointing that a book about such talented artists lacks illustrations; however- I’ll forgive the author as his content more than makes up for me needing to google a few images.There are some great anecdotes here and interesting dives into the tribulations and trajectories of artists...one can’t help but believe in a little kismet when learning about their paths and associations. I suppose like attracts like; and the artists featured within seem to have a magnetic pull-both to each other, as well as into the cultural miasma and success of low brow. As an artist, I couldn’t help but read this book as both a guide and a caution; there is so much experience to heed. As a fan, I appreciated learning about the symbolism, motifs and nuance buried in many paintings that my casual view might have missed. I hope that we are treated to learning about more artists in future volumes.

The second chapter on Tim Biskup is worth the price of admission alone. Overall an imperfect book and that is why it is perfect!