Product Description
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Beautiful Losers celebrates the spirit behind one of the most
influential cultural moments of a generation. In the early 1990's
a loose-knit group of likeminded outsiders found common ground at
a little NYC storefront gallery. Rooted in the DIY
(do-it-yourself) subcultures of skateboarding, surf, punk,
hip-hop & graffiti, they made art that reflected the lifestyles
they led. Developing their craft with almost no influence from
the "establishment" art world, this group, and the subcultures
they sprang from, has now become a movement that has been
transforming pop culture. Starring Ed Templeton who skated pro
for New Skateboards winning awards all over the world, Harmony
Korine who wrote the cult favorite Kids and then went on to
direct Gummo and most recently Mister Lonely and Mike Mills who
designed album covers for the Beastie Boys, Beck, Sonic Youth and
directed the movie Thumbsucker. Also starring Barry McGee, Chris
Johanson, Geoff McFetridge, Jo Jackson, Margaret Kilgallen,
Stephen Powers, Thomas Campbell and Shepard Fairey who has
experienced recent success with the now famous 'Hope'
featuring Barack Obama.
.com
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Beautiful Losers, an endearing film about a tight-knit group of
artistic friends borne loosely out of a legendary, now-defunct
New York gallery called Alleged, heightens one's awareness of how
cultural scenes can be forged and maintained through long-term
documentation. Since the beginnings of this group in the early
1990s, filmmaker, curator, and ex-Alleged director Aaron Rose has
undertaken the gargantuan task of forming and chronicling an
American artistic community through museum shows, an art catalog
from which the Beautiful Losers film borrows its name, and
finally, a full-length feature documentary. Anyone who hasn't yet
learned of the historical roots and aesthetic connections between
graphic designers like Geoff McFetridge, filmmakers like Harmony
Korine and Mike Mills, and street artists like Shepard Fairey and
Barry McGee will now be exposed to this highly influential posse
of creative people who have infiltrated mainstream media and
advertising to renovate commercials, print ads, and art practice
sponsored by corporate entities. Beautiful Losers is a patchwork
quilt of interview footage of the above-named artists, plus many
great female ones too, like Margaret Kilgallen, Jo Jackson, and
Aaron Rose's fellow documentarian, photographer and filmmaker
Cheryl Dunn. Before it dives into individual interviews, which
are all charming and funny, the film explains skateboarding
culture and the suburban roots of these artists to establish a
platform for their shared styles. There are elegantly filmed
segments about train graffiti and hobo art, about the first art
gallery exhibitions of skate art in New York and Los Angeles, and
about how this group has traveled Europe and Asia to share their
beliefs in collaboration and freedom through creativity. While
there is something contrived about naming and monumentalizing a
group of artists who share affinities with many other artists in
America, Beautiful Losers skillfully avoids elitism with a savvy
camera eye, cool editorial, and a soundtrack by Money Mark. Some
of the biggest characters in the film, such as Chris Johanson,
the bearded, self-procled "conceptual artist," and
skater-photographer couple Ed and Deanna Templeton, elevate the
film overall with wit and edge. Beautiful Losers, beyond being a
documentary about 15 or so friends, is a test in high art, low
art, and corporate art commingling as an attempt to stake its
cl as some kind of new Pop Art movement. For that, among other
reasons, it is unique and important. --Trinie Dalton