I have a list of artists who inspire me when I’m writing and designing. Though it’s a meager list, the people in it are as epic as the Greeks could get. I draw influences from different people— from fine art painters and illustrators, to writers and philosophers. However, there’s always an occasional artistic mushroom that sprouts out of thin air and gives you awesome ideas for the stuff you do. Here’s what I’ve stumbled upon – four awesome artists from the Lowbrow Art Movement: Audrey Kawasaki, Amy Sol, Seonna Hong, and Camilla d’Errico.

The Lowbrow Art movement started in the late 1970s. Back then, there are only a handful of artists who actively participated within the movement.  Probably the most notable pioneer artist for the Lowbrow Art movement is Robert Williams, as he created the original (and controversial) album cover of Guns N’ Roses’ “Appetite for Destruction”. He was also responsible for the creation of the art magazine, Juxtapoz, which focuses on events, art pieces, and opinions of the artists involved within the Lowbrow art movement.

Much of the characteristics of Lowbrow art pieces are either influenced by or focused on different subcultures— from punk music to underground comic book styles and other street level subcultures. We see these influences in the form of toys, custom stickers, sculptures, and digital art. Most of the artists involved or categorized under the Lowbrow Art movement either utilizes two types of medium, or combines two mediums to create an art work.

Here’s a short look into the fantastic world of Lowbrow Art Movement:

Audrey Kawasaki

Audrey Kawasaki’s works are well-known for her portrayal of innocent- looking adolescent women with some hint of eroticism. Much of her work is done on wood panels using oil paint which gives her artwork a unique earth-like and warm tone. Kawasaki draws influences from Art Nouveau and Japanese Manga.

Amy Sol

Amy’s artworks depict stock female characters together with mythical creatures. Her pieces usually show a kind of narrative, like a scene taken from folklore and drawn and painted on wood panels or on canvas prints. Much of Sol’s works depict the characters on an exotic background – trees, flowers, and rolling hills. This can be attributed to manga and folk-art influences she infused into her style.

Seonna Hong

Seonna Hong’s pieces feature young female characters in surreal backdrops, sometimes accompanied by an animal or another girl. Hong’s art portrays the artist’s solitude and the creativity that it brews within her. Her much recent works feature cubist styles, combined with a surrealist background and is completed by the cartoonish lines and colors of her girls.

Camilla d’Errico

Camilla d’Errico’s artwork is mainly influenced by comic book and manga. She usually incorporates unusual elements as accessories to her characters such as furry animals, mechanical headgears (collected in a series entitled “Helmet Girls”), and bones. Much of d’Errico’s characters have an aloof air about them, giving them a naive or detached personality.

The Lowbrow Art movement borrows various elements from comic books and manga, and incorporates them in an almost passive, yet distracting style that involves adolescent girls and other light imagery. Much of the style and theme involved within the Lowbrow movement is described by Robert Williams as cartoon-tainted abstract surrealism. This can be seen throughout the ethereal feel of the artwork’s background, the minor details, and the indistinguishable emotion portrayed by the artwork’s subject.