BWW Previews: ¡Orale! THE KINGS AND QUEENS OF COOL at The Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, NM

This fall, the Harwood Museum of Art will present four exhibitions, united by the theme ¡Orale! The Kings and Queens of Cool from Saturday, September 20th through Sunday January 25, 2015. The exhibition explores 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!
• 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!
• 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.
• 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.
• Toby Morfin and Luke Martinez II, presented on the Harwood's Curator's Wall

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.

Exhibition Opening Events will include Director's Circles & VIP Preview Reception on Thursday, September 18, 5-7 pm, Alliance Members' Opening Reception on Friday, September 19, 5-7 pm, Free Museum Admission on Saturday, September 20, 10 a.m-5 p.m. and the Drive In Night/Street Party at Harwood Museum of Art and Ledoux Street Businesses on Saturday, September 20, 4 p.m.-8 p.m.

The Harwood Museum of Art, 238 Ledoux Street, Taos, NM 87571 Phone: 575 758-9826 or visit their web site at www.harwoodmuseum.org.

The museum is open Monday through Saturday: 10 am-5 pm, Sunday: Noon-5 pm, Closed Monday November through March

To schedule a guided group tour of ¡Orale! The Kings and Queens of Cool, contact the Harwood's Department of Museum Learning and Public Programs at education@harwoodmuseum.org.

Photo Credit: Robert Williams, "Carne de Amore"