Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture
Edited by Aaron Rose and Christian Strike
First Edition, First Printing, 2004
Signed by 10 including Terry Richardson, Christian Strike, Brian Donnelly (KAWS), Tobin Yelland, Aaron Rose, Jocko Weyland, Cheryl Dunn, and Mike Mills.
Fine Condition
This is a very rare signed first edition, first printing of “Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture” published by Iconoclast Productions in Association with D.A.P. (Distributed Art Publishers), New York in 2004. The book was published to accompany the traveling national exhibition “Beautiful Losers” held at numerous museums in 2004 and 2005. This is a remarkable book for many reasons but the highlight is the signatures of ten of the artist’s whose works were exhibited and are included in the book.
Measuring approximately, 11.5” x 9”, the book is a hard bound in red linen debossed in gold on the cover and spine with an illustrated dust jacket. Both the book and dust jacket are in FINE condition. Now in its second printing, this is a great opportunity to obtain the True First Edition signed by 10 of the participants.
Photographs of the dust jacket and the signatures appear below. Please note that although the photographs appear digitized as thumbnails, they are viewable in the photo viewer by running your mouse over the thumbnail. You can also click on the thumbnail to open a separate window where the picture is viewable.
From the publisher:
The greatest cultural accomplishments in history have never been the result of the brainstorms of marketing men, corporate focus groups, or any homogenized methods; they have always happened organically. More often than not, these manifestations have been the result of a few like-minded people coming together to create something new and original for no other purpose than a common love of doing it. In the 1990s, a loose-knit group of American artists and creators, many just out of their teens, began their careers in just such a way. Influenced by the popular underground youth subcultures of the day, such as skateboarding, graffiti, street fashion, and independent music, artists like Shepard Fairey, Mark Gonzales, Spike Jonze, Margaret Kilgallen, Mike Mills, Barry McGee, Phil Frost, Chris Johanson, Harmony Korine, and Ed Templeton began to create art that reflected the lifestyles they led. Many had no formal training and almost no conception of the inner workings of the art world. They learned their crafts through practice, trial and error, and good old-fashioned innovation. Not since the Beat Generation have we seen a group of creative individuals with such a unified aesthetic sense and varied cultural facets. The world of art has been greatly affected by their accomplishments as have the worlds of fashion, music, literature, film, and, ironically, athletics. Over the years, the group has matured, and many have become more establishment-oriented; but no matter, their independent spirit has remained steadfast. Beautiful Losers is a retrospective celebration of this spirit, with hundreds of artworks by over two dozen artists, from precursors like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Larry Clark, to more recent adherents Terry Richardson, Ryan McGinley, KAWS, and Geoff McFetridge. Work in all conceivable mediums is included, plus reproductions of reams of ephemera.”
