Lowbrow (Pop Surrealism) vs Pop Art

ローブロウ / ポップアート

Lowbrow (Pop Surrealism) comes from Illustration Styles and Pop Art from Pop. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Lowbrow (Pop Surrealism)

Lowbrow (Pop Surrealism) — トッド・ショア《自画像》2010年 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0Lowbrow (Pop Surrealism) — Old Man Parker《Tiki Cat》2016年 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0Lowbrow (Pop Surrealism) — エド・ロス《オービトロン》1964年（撮影 Jerry Thompson 2009年）— Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0

Painting from outside the museum, schooled on hot rods, comics, tattoos and B movies. It renders pop memory in exacting oil technique, and Juxtapoz magazine gave it a home under the name Pop Surrealism.

Pop Art

Pop Art — Andy Warhol《キャンベル・スープ缶》MoMA 展示 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0Pop Art — Roy Lichtenstein《Brushstrokes》ポートランド美術館 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0Pop Art — Roy Lichtenstein《バルセロナの頭》1992 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 ES

Amplifies the vocabulary of ads and comics until mass culture itself becomes the picture.

Lowbrow (Pop Surrealism)Pop Art
Era1979–1950s–1960s
FamilyIllustration StylesPop
KindStyleStyle
CuesPop-culture iconography / Precise classical technique / Uneasy humor / Street-born heraldryHalftone dots / Bold outlines / Primary colors / Repetition
Best used forArtwork for record labels, skate brands and tattoo shops · Covers for shows or books that reject museum politeness outrightMaking products and campaigns pop instantly · Boldly reinterpreting familiar subjects
TypeSign-painter and comic lettering rendered as carefully as the artComic-style extra-bold lettering
CompositionA central face with the surround filled by emblem-like motifsBlow up the subject; panels and repetition
MaterialOil gloss and smooth gradation, brushwork sanded awayRed, yellow, blue, black outlines, halftones
CautionPicking creepy subject matter while skipping the rendering craft turns the work into doodling that only wants to shock.Overusing comic marks trivializes the content. Decide what you treat as mass culture.

Put these two together

Illustration Styles ／ Pop

IndexStyle