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Kirsten Easthope is a pop surrealist artist who paints pin-up art inspired by vintage artists and pulp imagery. She paints her pin-ups on everything from crucifixes to old bowling pins, adding an extra kitschy element. The original painting that we own, which is titled "Trailerpark Queen," is arguably her most famous piece, appearing on everything from t-shirts and stickers to lunch boxes. What I love about this piece is the fact that it was obviously inspired by pulp imagery and as an obsessive vintage paperback collector, I love it. We have so many trailer themed pulp paperbacks that one day I will even do a post about them. They were a very kitschy genre that make a lot of people giggle today, and they also often appear on lunchboxes, magnets, and stickers. What Easthope has done is taken that pulp paperback imagery and exaggerated it just a tad for a nice effect. I love the Peggy Bundy/John Waters take on the hair and the outfit plus the adorable tacky pillow she sits on. A "trailerpark queen" indeed!
This painting is one of the many pop surrealist originals in our collection. It is by British artist Dominic Murphy who sometimes goes under the pseudonym of the "homely villain." He refers to his art as "weird art, surreal poetry, images of pain and death, political satire." I would like to purchase another of Mr. Murphy's pieces but alas that has not happened. I would like to purchase perhaps one of his subversions of Little Red Riding Hood or Lizzie Borden. Something about his work reminds me of the art in a book I read as a child called "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark," and I mean that as a 100% compliment. That book kept me up at night...NOTE: Sorry for the weird angle. The flash kept glaring on the image when taken straight-on.
Pop surrealism, also known as "lowbrow" art, is a modern art movement. I'm not going to try to define it. Since so many artists have been placed under its umbrella, the styles and elements used are just too diverse to pin down. What I like about the movement, however, is the fact that the art usually tells a story that is relatable. The artists don't typically make abstract art and then put a pretentious "meaning" upon it after the fact that you supposedly can only understand if you are "smart enough." In fact, pop surrealist Travis Louie gave a good example of this at a recent Dragon-Con panel. He gave an example of an artist who called a pile of broken glass a work of art. He joked about the piece and wondered how you could ever dust it or clean it.
The pieces made by pop surrealists do have meaning, just not inauthentic meaning conjured up by some elitist art snob. Rather, the meaning is usually revealed by the stories the pieces tell and the symbols used. The meaning can be found by viewers willing to examine the piece and find it.
The original painting I am featuring today is by Canadian pop surrealist Kelly Haigh. It is one of my original paintings (24x30) from our pop surrealist art collection and was painted by Kelly for an animal rights charity auction. I love how she has taken the real life and beliefs of the pop culture personality shown and subverted it to tell a story. More of Kelly's work can be found on her website Doll in the Family. On a side note, Kelly has an interesting fringe collecting interest herself. She collects Victorian taxidermy and the most striking pieces she has are of beloved, dead pets.
Pop surrealism is my favorite genre of visual art. When flipping through my collection of vintage cabinet photos, I couldn't help but notice the striking similarity between one of my cabinet photos and a painting by pop surrealist artist extraordinaire Mark Ryden. Ryden's painting "Little Boy Blue" is shown here for the purpose of comparison-- I do not own the copyright to Mark Ryden's painting-- please visit his official website to see more of his work.
It's that evil face. That's all there is to it.
