Yesterday marked the opening of four exhibitions at The Harwood Museum of Art united by the theme ¡Orale! Kings and Queens of Cool. Robin Gascon attended the opening day festivities, and sent us these great pictures she took. The Harwood has never held an exhibition like this, nor had a crowd like this. It is truly exceptional and about the people’s art. Enjoy!

Everyone is encouraged to attend the exhibitions running now through Sunday, January 25, 2015. Complete information about ¡Orale! Kings and Queens of Cool at HarwoodMuseum.org.

The Harwood Museum of Art presents ¡Orale! The Kings and Queens of Cool

Featuring art by Dennis Larkins, David Singer, Alton Kelley, Lee Conklin, Stanley Mouse, Wes Wilson, & Winston Smith

This fall the Harwood Museum of Art will present four exhibitions, united by the theme ¡Orale! The Kings and Queens of Cool, exploring the art movement now referred to as Post-Pop or Lowbrow that grew out of West Coast surfer, car and street culture. In addition to exploring the West Coast roots of this genre, ¡Orale! The Kings and Queens of Cool will showcase the contemporary expressions of Hispano, Lowrider and street culture in Northern New Mexico. Each of Harwood Museum of Art’s changing exhibition galleries will focus on a different aspect of this genre.

• Lowbrow Insurgence: The Rise of Post-Pop Art, exhibited in the Mandelman-Ribak Gallery, will bring together the work of internationally recognized artists such as Robert Williams, Mark Ryden, Ron English, H.R. Giger, R. Crumb, Marion Peck, Stanley Mouse, Mark Bryan, Dennis Larkins, Winston Smith, Niagara, Anthony Ausgang, Esteban Bojorquez, Camille Rose Garcia, Von Dutch, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and more!

• Pinstripe Madera: Pinstriping as Minimalism, exhibited in the Caroline Lee and Bob Ellis Gallery, will feature skateboard decks pinstriped by nationally selected artists including Mickey Hortons, “Bugs” Efrain Gonzales, Dave “Letterfly” Knoderer, Zach “ZROD” Rodriguez, Luke “Lucas” Martinez, “Low Low” Arthur Medina, Ron Hernandez, Albert Neri, Jonathan Mercado, David Anthony Garcia (“D.A. Garcia”), Joseph Gonsowski (“Pollock Joe”), Rody Kuschnereit, Herb Martinez (“The Line Dr.”), Kerry Buckley, Anamaria Medina, Victor Martinez, Mr. Rhythm, Dio Dominguez and Alex Juarez.

• Nuevo Lowbrow: Pop Culture in the West, presented in the Peter and Madeleine Martin Gallery, will feature, side by side for the first time, over 100 of the finest celebrated artists of the Post-Pop Generation and their New Mexico counterparts! Exhibiting artists will include Bob Dob, Joel Nakamura, Gary Baseman, Douglas Johnson, Laurie Lipton, Ryan Singer, KRK Ryden, Tim Prythero, Joe Coleman, Max Lehman, Isabel Samaras, Conrad Cooper, Carrie Ann Baade, Toby Morfin, Rik Allen, Brandon Maldonado, Tim Biskip, El Moises, Ana Bagayan, Greg Moon and many, many more! Also exhibited in New Mexico for the first time will be a selection of original art by pioneering Rock and Underground Comix artists from the late 60’s and early 70’s including the work of R. Crumb. Rick Griffin, Gilbert Shelton, Wes Wilson, Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse and much more!

• El Tatuaje: The Tattoo in Underground Culture, presented in the George E. Foster, Jr. Gallery of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, will explore the tattoo as an art form.

Jina Brenneman, Curator of Exhibitions at the Harwood Museum of Art, states “Not surprisingly, the outlaw, seemingly expatriate state of New Mexico is a breeding ground for the ‘outsider’, the ‘unruly citizen’, the ‘underground artist’. The descriptions for these archetypes relate very directly to Post-Pop influences and Lowbrow subject matter. Cars, pin-ups, punk, rock and roll, comics, tattoo, prison art, graffiti, pulp, surfer, airbrushed – anything from the streets and of the people, art that embodies technical craftsmanship blended with fantastical imagery and visually dynamic narratives.”

Brenneman continues, “When we trace the lineage of these new expressions, we have seen cultural influences as widespread as Kustom Kar Kulture, Surfing and Street Art, Underground Comix and Rock Art to Tattoo and Saturday Morning Cartoons! Add to these populist forms the powerful influence of Pop Art and Surrealism, a renewed interest in narrative content (story telling) and a new aesthetic begins to emerge. Possibly the most compelling aspect of all of this has been how seemingly disparate parallel paths, bending to the subtle arc of history, have coalesced in this time and place where past, present and future converge! Kings and Queens of Cool!

Brenneman teamed up with artist Dennis Larkins and co-curators Esteban Bojorquez, Greg Moon, Toby Morfin and El Moises to create ¡Orale! The Kings and Queens of Cool. The exhibition will be accompanied by a 100-page full-color catalogue, designed by Esteban and Karen Bojorquez, documenting the artists in the exhibition.

We had a chance to catch up with Dennis Larkins who informed us that in addition, the show will include a small special exhibit of original vintage Rock Poster art, loaned by the Haight Street Art Center, including work from the late 60’s through the 70’s by Kelley and Mouse, Wes Wilson, David Singer, Lee Conklin, Rick Griffin and Victor Moscoso. As an added, and related, bonus there will also be a small group of original works by Underground Comics artists from the same period, loaned by Jacaeber Kastor, including R. Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Spain Rodriguez, Rick Griffin, S. Clay Wilson and Robert Williams.

Pictures from the Director’s Circles & VIP Preview Reception held on September 18, 2014

Exhibition Opening Events

Director’s Circles & VIP Preview Reception – Thursday, September 18, 5pm – 7pm
Alliance Members’ Opening Reception – Friday, September 19, 5pm – 7pm
Free Museum Admission – Saturday, September 20, 10am – 5pm

Drive In Night / Street Party with Car show, Live music, & Artist talk
Harwood Museum of Art & Ledoux Street Businesses – Saturday, September 20, 4 pm – 8 pm

Open Monday through Saturday: 10am – 5pm / Sunday: Noon – 5pm
Closed Monday November through March

Directions

The Harwood Museum of Art 238 Ledoux Street Taos, NM