Beautiful Losers

undefined

Product Description ------------------- 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 ---- 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