Product Description

A new breed of contemporary artists is celebrating newfound international recognition
for their style and approach to creating art that is sprouting from and largely
influenced by visual subcultures. These young artists, who are associated with the
widespread movements of Lowbrow Art and Neo-Surrealism, share similarities with
the popular art movements of the 1960s and 70s as well as urban art.
The term Lowbrow may sound self-deprecating; rather it represents a distinctive
artistic composition and technical approach in which art is produced. The Upset
documents this movement and the artists associated with it. Feeding off an array
of popular subcultures, they often draw influences from anime, comic books,
graffiti and street art as well as character design.
The often figurative and narrative artworks featured here employ classical techniques
with great skills to create sculpture, illustration, design and painting with
the use of spray cans, sharpies and elaborate colour palettes on canvas. With
the evolution of new media, artists are also blending these elements with various
disciplines in contemporary visual art.
Many of the artists in The Upset enjoy international fame and are represented
in prestigious galleries and museums worldwide. The book also introduces a
selection of promising talent who are breaking new ground, making it the perfect
source book for those interested in fine art and discovering young artists.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13739 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Customer Reviews

The Dustbin of History, Revised
Gestalten has created a comprehensive survey of the resurgence of figurative realism that is now overturning the art world, spotlighting the torrent of young contemporary artists who view late 20th century Modernism as a dead-end movement that has reached its logical conclusion and exhausted itself. This new avant-garde is pulling off a come-from-behind "upset" as they turn their backs on the conceptual conceits of the art establishment by adopting the skillful execution last seen in 17th and 19th century painting.

In the late 1990s, Classical Realist ateliers perfected their archaeological recovery effort, and now young artists are reaping the rewards by pointing their bazooka-sized skill sets at contemporary subject matter inspired by science fiction, comic book illustration, street art, and other sources. The Upset offers a who's-who of this broad movement with interviews, biographies and beautifully photographed artwork.

Taking the art world by storm, artists of The Upset like David Kassan and Mark Ryden (who draws inspiration from post-modernism's whipping boys Ingres and Bouguereau) are running circles around the current generation of institutional elites who took great pleasure in declaring the death of painting in the 1960s and '70s.

It seems that the dustbin of history has been flipped over unexpectedly, and if the trends documented in The Upset continue on their current trajectory, in twenty years we may find ourselves looking back on late Modernism as an odd interruption in the continuing two-thousand-year historical narrative of Western painting.

The Upset: Not so upsetting
The Upset: Young Contemporary Art


An awesome collection of Lowbrow and Neo-Surrealist artists. Love the layout as each artist has a couple of pages devoted to themselves with works and text. The illustrations are very satisfying and a must for any lover of this art form.

A must have for any illustration nerd or maker
I may say that this book is briliant, from the nice cover treatment to the vibrant illustrations displayed. Is a really great source for inspiration and study. There is a lot of artworks with almost complete informations about it, including the process used in artworks in some cases. A must have for any illustration nerd or maker in this decade.
Amazon really makes what they mean in the shipping options, delivered just in the right time to Brazil.