Bob Lizarraga: Big Time

Bob Lizarraga: www.boblizarraga.com
Bob Lizarraga, "Rat Pack Triptych"

Whatever you may call it, “Outsider” or “Imagist” or “Lowbrow,” I think that the next major art movement that will be added to the canon in survey art history books such as “Gardner’s Art Through the Ages” and Janson’s “Art History,” will be the neo pop movement of “Low Brow” art.

The thing about this kind of art is that it is perfect fusion of a 19th century realist skill set, 1950’s commercial art, with a pop sensibility and goes well beyond the crude esthetic of Warhol’s and Lichtenstein’s pop. Bob Lizarraga is one of the practitioners of this art movement, and while not the top tier of it, his art is well above average. This is not your daddy’s Pop Art.

Start with the circumstances of how his and other artists of his ilk exhibit their work. From his website (www.boblizarraga.com) it seems like Lizarraga does not show in too many galleries, this is not a bad thing, like the artists who sought to demystify and decommidify their art in the sixties and seventies, Lizarraga, is almost taking a guerilla like approach to getting his art seen. He brings his art, uncensored by the gallery system to the people.

His website, which I think is the bee’s knees, is a fun, clean, and markets reproductions of his work at reasonable prices, hell for about eighteen bucks for a print you can’t go wrong and his stuff looks good.

Bob Lizarraga, "Sylvester's Pad"

Although everything is rendered in a clean, accurate, cartoonish pop that cannot be beat, he tends to jump around just a bit in terms of style. His show biz prints are a sort of faux street caricaturist style crossed with the cartoon network, while some of his Tiki stuff, such as “Sylvester’s Pad” are just a touch too derivative of artists like Shag and others. Of course, there are teaming masses of poor artist who don’t hit the mark with half the finesse he does.

Bob Lizarraga, “Ivonna Cadaver”

Two particularly strong paintings are his “Rat Pack vs. the Devil for Control of the Strip (About 1960)” and “Ivonna Cadaver.” Part of the reason why I think these two are the strongest of the bunch is aside from the masterful handling of paint, light, and color, he also has included more of an environment for the character’s to live in. It kind of makes sense in a way because his other job is character designs for animation. In “Rat Pack vs. Devil” the characters interact. Simply put, there is a little bit more environment and a lot more thought.

Bob Lizarraga, “Rat Pack vs. the Devil for Control of the Strip (About 1960)”

Conceptually and visually rich the two also have not just a background but also a bit of a back-story. “Ivonna Cadaver” is a correction on the original trite tradition sort of Marcel Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q., (the postcard reproduction of the Mona Lisa that he vandalized) crossed with the Adam’s Family’s Morticia. The “Rat Pack vs. the Devil” is almost a comment on what’s going on in Vegas. Although the title sets it in 1960, it seems almost like a film or novel written by Neil Gaiman crossed with Elmore Leonard, in which the city is fought over by the ghosts of its ancestors come back for one last shot at redeeming the place.

I think that Lizarraga has a shot at the big time.

Marcel Duchamp (American, born France: 1887-1968)

Postcard of Replica of L.H.O.O.Q. (1919)

Collotype, hand colored with watercolor. 7 5/8 x 4 13/16"