Lowbrow and Kustom Kulture Art by David Lozeau

David Lozeau paints Lowbrow art with a Day of the Dead twist and further bolsters his distinctive style by layering an acrylics, gouache, and 1 Shot enamel, which is the same medium pinstripers use to letter and detail cars and motorcycles.

The term “Lowbrow” was coined by Juxtapoz magazine founder Robert Williams in the late 1970s as a way to describe a modern art movement that flew in the face of traditional, gallery-safe, “highbrow” elements and imagery. In this eclectic style, which draws inspiration from punk, metal, and rockabilly music, as well as the tattoo, hot rod, tiki, and monster movie subcultures, all rules are thrown out the window.

Williams later referred to the Lowbrow movement as "cartoon-tainted abstract surrealism,” but it has also been called “pop surrealism” and “underground art,” among other things. It often depicts the vehicles and fashions derivative of the pin-up girls of the 1940s, the greasers and cartoons of the 1950s, the Ed “Big Daddy” Roth custom car builders of the 1960s, the music and lowriders of the 1970s, and the London and SoCal street art of the 1980s.

The kustom kulture lowbrow scene emerged from—and remains most prominent in—Los Angeles, where, on any given weekend, you can find an event featuring amazing cars, top tattoo artists, great food, and lively music. You’ll find Lozeau there, somewhere between the surf, skeleton, hot rod, Poly-Pop, and zombie art, working on a new painting in his signature illustrative style.