New Brow
Director/Producer: Tanem Davidson
Humble Pictures
Producer: Justin Giarla
Cinematographer: Joe Bourguignon
Editor: Jacob Arden McClure
Executive Producer: Scott Grover


A few weeks ago we jammed down to the coast for the premiere screening of New Brow, the documentary feature film presented by Humble Pictures in association with the Shooting Gallery, chronicling the emergence of a new art movement that Juxtapoz has been covering since the magazine was conceived. The event took place at the Golden State Theatre in Monterey. Since we were going to be attending, William at Juxtapoz had asked us to shoot some photos and do a little write up...and we'd love nothing more than to tell you about the film, but when we got to the premiere, during the opening announcement, the request was made that there be no press. We were told that we could review our experience but not the film itself..... WTF? We just drove all over seaside looking for a Target so we could get a spiral notebook and a pen. Apparently, as it is being considered for Sundance, that's one of the rules. OK, since we really didn't want to do or say anything that would disqualify these really nice guys and all of their hard work, here is our best attempt at a review without a review

The prelude to the premiere film was the opening reception and gallery show curated by Justin Giarla of the Shooting Gallery at the Alternative Cafe in the neighboring town of Seaside. The show was a well crafted overture for the film, which was about the rise of the underground art movement, how it emerged and developed, and how all of the different sub-genres, though very different from each other in their styles, medium, and inspiration - have been sort of lumped together under this limiting umbrella. With the likes of Ed Roth, Von Dutch, Robert Williams, R. Crumb, and S. Clay Wilson (to name a few,) as the forefathers; and the next generation of artists like Banksy, Todd Schorr, Chris Mars, Barry McGee, Shepard Fairey, Mark Ryden, Biskup, Baseman, and Camille Rose Garcia (which doesn’t even scratch the surface.)

What was just as different as the art that was being shown, were the people who came out to see it. Though many, at first glance, might look at every thing on the walls and all the people that filled them as being similar in style, interest and attitude, they were actually, while complimentary to each other in juxtaposition, in fact, very distinct.

It’s a lot like music, really, when you think about it. You go to a gallery show and look at high end intellectual art, you see a lot of people walking around with their wine glasses wearing their thick framed lenses and arrogant expressions talking to each other about the 'work' trying to get as much mileage as possible out of the few art classes they may have taken to impress the walking J-Crew advertisement standing next to them. But let's be honest, when you see a bunch of cotton balls stuck to a blank canvas with a 20K price tag, you gotta think “you're shitting me, right.” You would almost need to take a class to figure out why you're supposed to think that this is something of value, and you are almost positive that there are people watching through a hidden camera and laughing in another room. And there are certainly several institutions that will take your money in return for the sophistication necessary to appreciate this, but really... was there any feeling, emotion, revolutionary message there? At the very least, was any one having fun? We would say, most likely not. Maybe it will look sorta cool with your sofa and your friends will say “wow is that a dhjfklsdhflksdh? that must have cost you a fortune,” and then you can pretend to love it and go on in a boastful boorish, rant to impress your guests. Well... get hot then, if that's what floats your boat, but if we were to compare it to music, we would liken it to some weird new age experimental jazz or something. Ok, we guess it's sorta cool, but we don't get it.

Then there are your art museums filled wall to wall with all sorts of wonderful pieces that chronicle the movement of art from one century to the next. And we're not going to tell you that there isn’t magnificent work there, of course there is. But the difficulty here, for us, at least is that they don’t speak to today’s issues - they speak to different people, different times, different worlds. By token of the same comparison, we would call it chamber music. It's pretty, it's impressive and inspiring even, but it's not in the CD-player and we're not rocking out to it in the car. We could go on making similar compairisons to all of the other acknowledged and appreciated art genres, but we think you get the picture.

But this stuff... this is different. We get it, and it gets us. Some of it makes us laugh, some of it makes us think, and some of it reminds us of how fucked up certain things are and we're glad that at least someone is paying attention, some of it bends the rules and some of it just flat-out breaks them.

Some of it, we just like to look at for no reason at all. And it’s honest. You don’t need an art degree or five glasses of free wine know how you feel about it. Some of it is classic and has paved the way for other artists by offering inspiration and bearing the brunt of the earlier critics. Some of it is more punk, (another term like ’low brow'’, that may seem like an insult, but which was eventually embraced and taken to describe not only music, but also clothing, attitude and anything that was considered to be against the will of the powers that be, or that is otherwise unconventional). But if you are going to lump it together, the street art, pop surrealism, skate board and sticker and tattoo art - they've at least got one thing in common, they are all rock-n-roll and we love it. And the most brilliant thing about it, is that it has opened the doors for all sorts of people who would otherwise feel alienated or intimidated by art to paint, collect or just come out to the galleries to check this stuff out. OK, so it may not be for everyone. That's cool. Let the elitists call it low brow, the longer they remain ignorant to it's genius, the longer we will be able to afford it. As with music, there are a lot of crossovers between art and merchandise in this new style, which should be considered for many reasons. Artists are not just involved in gallery shows, but also books, toys, magazines, street art and illustrated commissions. And from a single image, tee shirts, prints, skate-decks, stickers, shoes, socks and even underwear are generated creating jobs to boost the economy. We're under no elusions that this new art movement is here to stay, but we are certain that it will be part of history and most likely (if we still have art programs in public schools) future students will be influenced by this art movement, much as we are.

So we thought it was really a cool thing that these guys put this film together so that like minded people can revel in what an exciting time this is to be an artist, gallery owner, or collector, and also so that people who haven’t been exposed can watch this film and get a little background and perspective, and we hope it make it to Sundance so that you can all enjoy it too - and if we were allowed to say anything about it, it would be really positive. Thank you to Humble Pictures and the Shooting Gallery for their hard work, dedication and for putting together a great evening. We had fun.

For more information, visit their website at newbrowfilm.com

Words by John Soldano and Gretchen Becker

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