“When I was young, I thought that art was something for rich people.” With this quote, begins the 2007 documentary Beautiful Losers. It’s just made its way to a small screening at Portland’s own SPACE Gallery (you guessed it!) The documentary takes a look at a group of likeminded do-it-yourself artists, creating meaningful art at a time when it was difficult to be seen or heard.
The film brings a personal perspective to the transformations of the artists as they received commercial recognition in a world where people had never recognized them.
All growing up in similar D.I.Y crowds, the artists created a movement of street art and eventually turned it into a successful lifestyle. Ranging from backgrounds in underground cultures such as skateboarding, surfing, graffiti, punk rock and hip hop, the artists showcase their experiences and artwork throughout the film.
It takes you through their growth from young kids in their own galleries to owners of successful skateboard companies and thriving new galleries.
Most of their art has ended up as the main focus of large galleries in New York, Europe, and Japan.
Being an art documentary, the direction of artist Aaron Rose is creative and smart. With the film, he creates a view of the lifesyles that inspired the art. He isn’t afraid to show the artists as real human beings, instead of glorifying their lives.
He shows the artists as normal people who created art because they had to. They weren’t seeing or hearing the things they wanted, so they created them.
Rose’s choice of music also helps to reel you in. Spread out between clips of interviews with the artists, the music sets the pace and tone of the film. Also established with relative ease, are the relationships between the artists. Just like characters in a piece of fiction, you feel their emotions and grow attached to their lives. Whether it be a heart-warming scene or not, you feel the emotions because you know these are real people.
Pro skateboarder Ed Templeton and his wife Deanna are a prime example of the success that this group has seen, and yet they have managed to escape adapting the rock star lifestyle, and have been married for 14 years.
Other artists in the group have faced many hardships along their road to success. Aaron Rose himself was broke while trying to run a gallery to show their at to the public. Even while the art was taking off, he sacrificed his finances for the movement.
Graffiti and street artists Barry McGee and Margaret Kilgallen, who were married, lend an emotional portion of the movie. With both of their work taking off into the mainstream, Kilgallen became pregnant, and was then diagnosed with cancer. She was forced with the decision between keeping her child or fighting cancer.
Beautiful Losers is inspiring because it highlights normal individuals with incredible talent. It shows them as people who always lived with the mindset to create things that weren’t being created, and having mainstream success never occurred to them. Now, some of the group are working for major advertising campaigns for Pepsi, Gap, and more; their movement has gained the attention of media giants, yet they still create the artwork that moves them. Go buy the book, or look for Beautiful Losers on DVD someday soon.www.beautifullosers.com. Bring back creativity. Make something from nothing.