Lowbrow

Fall '23, Airbrush Acrylic, Repurposed Velvet, found frames

Velvet Elvis paintings deserve a slot on the wall at the Art Institute of Chicago. The classification of taste into "highbrow" and "lowbrow" denies us the artistry and pleasure that can be found in the creations degraded into the lower class. The "lowbrow" series defends and celebrates the physical and thematic indicators of kitschy, unpretentious, and satirical taste. It serves as a material study as much as it does a question to the prestigious art school setting it is displayed in. Bursting from the wall with garish colors, recognizable subjects, silliness and blatant sex appeal, it challenges the notion that art with refined, layered, and mysterious meaning sits higher in the hierarchy of art than that made with stimulation-chasing abandon.