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Review

Beautiful Losers – Movie Review

  • Directed by Aaron Rose & Joshua Leonard
  • Starring Ed Templeton, Harmony Korine, Mike Mills, Barry McGee, Chris Johanson, Geoff McFetridge, Jo Jackson, Margaret Kilgallen, Stephen Powers, Thomas Campbell and Shepard Fairey

Comprised of an interesting collage of interviews, archival footage of gallery showings and tons of images of the art itself, Beautiful Losers covers a movement within the fringes of the art world that has made much larger waves than anyone expected.

The film gives insight into the group of artists who all came together in NYC, around director Aaron Rose’s art gallery Alleged, where an eclectic group of skaters, graphitti artists and other creative types came together and started creating art that would change the face of modern art.  This is a movement that has been covered in print by magazines like Robert Williams’ Juxtapoz Magazine, so a good number of the art styles featured herein were familiar to me on some level, but the film also introduced me to the work of numerous others.

The sheer joy of creating drives all of these artists, most of whom bemoan the fact that society demands that we lose the childish joy of making things, putting aside that creative outlet in favor of ‘growing up’ and conforming to the norms of our culture.  Drawing their inspirations from the world around them, the subculture they grew up in, or just making art because they are driven to, the film introduces each artist, then gives a bit of a look at their body of work while they talk about themselves and their approach to the creative process.

I think that the most charming thing about the film is ultimately the sense of camaraderie that you get from the artists as they speak about their own work and that of others, it’s a very positive feeling to hear people interested in building one another up as creators, rather than standing in line to tear someone else’s work down.  Perhaps I spend too much time on the interwebs lately, but in a world seemingly filled with snark, it’s pretty refreshing to see a group of people who are doing exactly what they want to do and encouraging others to do the same.

A good portion of the film focuses on the surprisingly mainstream success that all of those featured have had thrust upon them in one form or another; ad campaigns, apparel and other product tie-ins.  For better or worse, their small hipster clique has broken into the mainstream and most of them have mixed feelings about that.  I think this is also where a lot of people will start to pick at the film, at the artists who have been so successful and yet still find things to take issue with, but that sort of nitpicking from the jaded outsider is also rather indicative of the norm these days, so it’s not all that surprising to read other reviews that lean toward that tone.

Shepard Fairey, Stephen Powers (aka ESPO) and filmmaker Harmony Korine (director of Gummo) paint an interesting cross-section of how the creators have dealt with the mass marketing/acceptance of the movement. Fairey seems happy to be getting a message out to a larger audience, Powers has sworn off anymore commercial work, focusing instead on more personal projects on Coney Island, while Korine is content to keep making his own small film projects, creating the images he wants to see that no one else is making.

Special tribute is paid to Margaret Kilgallen, a painter who was unexpectedly taken by cancer at a young age, but not before making an extraordinary contribution to the movement; all of those assembled have very kind words for her in a touching segment towards the end of the film.

The film features a score from Money Mark, slick editing and a possibly rose-colored look at an artistic movement that many may not be familiar with; I’d definitely suggest checking this out if you’re a fan of the artists involved, or merely curious about the state of the modern art world.

Beautiful Losers is currently available on DVD as well as an iTunes download from New Digital Video.

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About The Author

Kingmob

Kingmob has been spending his time writing online reviews for the better part of two years and has nothing but the ability to speak about himself in the 3rd person to show for it. This review and others like it can be found at Big Suck Loser and you can read about the daily minutiae that drives him slowly mad and informs his useless opinions of pop culture at his blog, Dear Bastards.

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Article Information

  • Posted: Sunday, February 21st, 2010
  • Author: Kingmob
  • Filed Under: Film,Review
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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