20 YEARS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF JUXTAPOZ
Friday, February 20, 2015 at 03:08PM 
20 YEARS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF JUXTAPOZ
(Los Angeles) - The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and Juxtapoz magazine are pleased to present 20 Years Under the Influence of Juxtapoz, a group exhibition to commemorate two decades of the magazine’s influential contribution to contemporary art and culture. On view at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, and curated by Andrew Hosner of Thinkspace Gallery and Gary Pressman of Copro Gallery, the exhibition features close to one hundred artists who have graced the publication’s pages and website, and showcases the diversity and breadth of the New Contemporary movement Juxtapoz has championed and helped to uphold.
In 1994 in San Francisco, Robert Williams, Craig Stecyk, Greg Escalante, Eric Swenson and Fausto Vitello founded Juxtapoz with the intent of fostering the art and culture of the underground. Providing an alternative voice and narrative as a counterpart to the dominant New York-centric discourse of contemporary art, it featured artists who straddled “high” and “low” culture. Aligning itself with the aesthetics of contemporary street culture, figurative art, California car culture, gig posters, tattoos, graphics, psychedelia and comics, the publication became a conduit and forum for an entirely new generation of artists who were latching on to the visual vernacular of powerfully populist themes. At a time when representational forms of art were widely disparaged by the reigning critical discourse of the art world, a discourse which championed hyper-conceptual and minimalist dogmas, Juxtapoz provided a mouth piece for the New Contemporary movement. Fluid rather than prescriptive, this movement has many monikers but is united by an ethos. The expressive possibilities afforded by figurative or representational work came to the fore, and a democratic sensibility was unleashed.
What once began as an alternative magazine is now the most widely disseminated art publication in the world. Predicated on the rejection of the artificial boundaries that consecrated “high”, Juxtapoz effectively broke down walls to allow young artists a chance at their own history. It is also an ideal that attests to the power of making accessible art about shared cultural experiences, identities and aesthetics.
The artists featured in this exhibition have been chosen based for their impact on the movement, and on how they themselves have been motivated by such an abundance of inspiration. With access to this imagery and community, new and multifaceted generations of artists continue to emerge from the ranks. Avenues made possible by Juxtapoz, through its wide variety of featured media and expressions, have shaped this aesthetic and preserves its trajectory as far as the imagination will allow.
Opening Reception with the Artist(s): Saturday, February 21, 20156:00pm - 11:00pm
Invitation Only Reception: Saturday, February 21st from 6-11PM
*RSVP TO: rsvp@lamag.org
Public First View: Sunday, February 22nd 2-5PM
On view: Sunday, February 22nd – April 19th, 2015
Gallery Hours 12-5PM, Thursday – Sunday
Guest Curators: Andrew Hosner (Thinkspace) & Gary Pressman (Copro Gallery)
More Info At: ThinkspaceGallery