
Works in “Low Brow Art,” curated by James Walton, before the hanging. Image by Steve Coray.
Artists identify so well with the insults their critics hurl at them, that some of those eventually became the proper names of the most popular and respected artistic styles in history: “Impressionism,” “Cubism,” and “Baroque” come to mind. Meanwhile, Americans have always had ambivalent feelings about intellectual pursuits: “High brow” is not a phrase we commonly use to describe ourselves, and it was probably inevitable that its democratic alternative, “Low Brow,” would eventually become the identity of one of the longest-lasting and most influential movements in American art.
Beginning in the Sixties, what had been underground—even borderline illegal—images surfaced on hot rods, record jackets, comic books, clothing, motion pictures and television shows, surf boards, graffiti, and countless other places. When the gatekeepers of culture, what musicians called “the suits,” lost control and the power to censor, Low Brow became the catch phrase for a host of popular styles that have become permanent, if largely ignored, elements of American taste. When Salt Lake Community College Gallery and Art Collection Specialist James Walton decided it was time to not just choose artists to show in the George S and Dolores Doré Eccles Gallery, but to build his own exhibition, he chose one of his favorite styles: one he felt too often went missing from the local fare. Low Brow Art is the result, a brief-but-timely monument to what feels, for good or bad, to be a challenging historical moment.
It’s a daunting task to try to catalog such a vast and sprawling artistic impulse. Fortunately for Walton, he found help in some unexpected places. Like him, his brothers took part in it, striving to give nepotism a good name for a change. Saul Gilbert, a colleague in the maintenance department who routinely supports the Gallery’s projects, came forward with a stunning collection of pristine wax transfers. The Sixties was when iron-ons went public, with those who liked the idea of wearing a logo on their t-shirt but didn’t care for the corporate endorsements generally available discovered they could do something more personal with a transfer bought in a local shop and applied at home. Not many of these would have survived, but thanks to Gilbert, Low Brow Art has a vitrine full of original examples.

Underground comics from the 1960s. Image by Geoff Wichert.

Unused wax transfers. Image by Geoff Wichert.
That short life cycle helps explain Low Brow’s continuing appeal. It exists in the moment and gives rapid but fleeting expression to feelings that may come quickly and pass away over time. In the mid-1970s, the Topps company, maker of sports memorabilia, trading and baseball cards, commissioned comix artists Norm Saunders and Art Spiegelman to produce collectable stickers that followed Mad Magazine’s manner of mocking mass-produced and impersonal consumer products. For his part, Spiegelman was then in the early stages of drawing Maus, his comix novel version of his parents’ experiences in Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp. And as it happens, Saul Gilbert also collected these stickers, and provided a vitrine full of them as well.
Other unexpected contributions came from current students who feel a kinship with what is, after all, a school of art that continues to entertain those, like students, who haven’t yet and perhaps may never settle comfortably into a pre-existing social niche. Brianna Beck’s “Anywhere But Here” demonstrates the ongoing value to artists and audiences alike of collaging multiple cultural references, while Megan Wilson proves the continuing relevance of such “psychedelic,” or consciousness expanding tricks as breaking out of the complex picture plane with a subject in the third dimension.
- Ron Christensen, “The Running Faucet”
- William Robbins, “Snowboarding Helmet”
- Jann Haworth, “Mannequin Defector”
Perhaps the most important word in Low Brow Art is the one Walton used to title a case full of artifacts from his own collection. “Ephemera” refers to objects meant to be used daily and quickly discarded, such as newspapers, magazines, and note cards. Saul Gilbert’s unused transfers are remarkable in being among the few that were not ironed onto a shirt that was then worn to tattered shreds. Todd “Woodz” Woodward’s tattoo designs, the “Flash” that ink artists use to aid those seeking a personal ornament of their own, probably moulder today in more than a few graves. Robert Williams, one of the originals who is still working, painted objects and surfaces that in spite of his stature did not receive archival care. Sadly, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, creator of Rat Fink and perhaps the single most influential Low Brow artist, who left Los Angeles and moved to Manti, Utah late in his celebrated career, and would have loved to be a part of this exhibition, died of a heart attack in 2001.
There are at least 34 local and nine “guest” artists here, and the range of their opinions and aesthetic approaches is too wide to be summed up by a few comments and images. They range from the meticulous design and fabrication of Jann Haworth, one of the founders of Low Brow’s cousin, Pop Art, and William Robbins functional sculptures, to Ron Christensen’s visually punning hose bib, “Running Faucet.” Despite its populist pretensions, low brow art is not universally loved or even liked; what legitimate self-expression ever is? It doesn’t try to appeal to everyone, but by continuing to resist the encroachment of the gatekeepers, who for comparison have come back to largely strangle independent music, Low Brow artists preserve creative freedom even as they provide an alternative to institutionally sanctioned and certified art.

William Robbins, “Mystical End Table”
Low Brow Art, The George S. & Dolores Doré Eccles Gallery, Salt Lake Community College, Salt Lake City, through Feb. 21
Geoff Wichert objects to the term critic. He would rather be thought of as a advocate on behalf of those he writes about.
Categories: Exhibition Reviews | Visual Arts
Thanks for another great review, Geoff! It’s wonderful to have someone write about the show who really gets the movement and who took the time to provide such important historical context. The phrase “striving to give nepotism a good name for a change“ gave me a good laugh.