Beautiful Losers

August 31, 2007 on 10:40 am | In Art, Film, - Jauretsi |

Recently, on a sticky summer night in late July, gallerist and filmmaker Aaron Rose and Tokion Magazine gathered a group of friends & family for the very first NY screening of Beautiful Losers. This film has been long in the making. The book took even more years to compile.

For those who don’t know, Beautiful Losers is probably the most respected art book of this generations contemporary art movement. Its the history and melting of skater, graffiti, and graphic art worlds mashed up and mutating within the 4 walls of a small inconspicuous gallery called The Alleged. It truly remains some of my fondest memories when I first moved to NYC in the mid 90’s. It was also a symbiotic relationship between renegade artists who for the first time, felt a demand for their work, mixed with an audience starving for more inspiration which culminated into an explosion of shows within a short period of time. Lots of these guys have evolved to bigger commercial projects, but, I tell ya, there was something about that window of time. I’m honored to have met some of the best minds I know today because of this scene.

(artist ESPO hits a wall)

The documentary bottles up this era with class. Director Aaron went through hell (like all documentarians) making sense of too much information. He shares intimate footage with artists who’ll stand the test of time — ESPO, Mike Mills, Barry McGee (Twist), Margaret Kilgallen (RIP), and Shepard Fairey among others. Im sure Aarons footage contained 3 more documentaries on the cutting room floor. Whatever you don’t learn from the doc, you can read in the book. My guess is the book and doc will inspire an entire new generation of artists to march to their own drum, do it their own way, and create something from nothing….which is essentially, the story of all the great ones.

You’re going to have to wait for the Film to tour Festivals next year and hopefully reach theaters. Its a definite DVD staple. More here:
J

ART SHOW LINK
BOOK SOLD ON HUSTLER OF CULTURE SITE($26.37)