Beautiful Losers
From The Giant: The Definitive Obey Giant Site
[edit] Book
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 Ryan McGinniss, KAWS, and Geoff McFetridge. Work in all conceivable mediums is included, plus reproductions of reams of ephemera. The accompanying essays are contributed by a half-dozen writers who have championed these beautiful losers from the start. Edited by Aaron Rose and Christian Strike.~Essays by Alex Baker,Thom Collins, Jeffrey Deitch, Rene deGuzman, Carlo McCormick and Jocko Weyland.
Paperback, 8.5 x 11 in./272 pgs / 200 color and 200 b & w
[edit] eBay User
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An eBay user who is responsible for the slew of older prints hitting the market. This seller's prints are known to be in pristine condition and are shipped well. In May of 2000, Shepard Fairey had an art show in Tokyo, Japan. The gallery or person hosting the show, bought up hundreds of prints. Anything they could get their hands on. Later, Zebra Posters in Japan was selling Obey Giant prints. They later changed their name to 7pos.com. At some point (believed in 2005), 7pos purchased over 500 prints from the gallery, and for unknown reasons, 7pos started to liquidate them on eBay under the name Beautiful Losers. At one point they even created an English website (currently down) where many of the prints were available for purchase.
The 500 prints that were purchased by 7pos include the following:
Prints:
- Authoritarian (6-10)
- Big Brother Collage (4)
- Bomber (8+)
- Che (3+)
- Chinese Soldier White (2)
- Dictator (1)
- Elvis '77 (2)
- The Fifth Beatles Print (1)
- Film Strip (1)
- Fist (10+)
- Giant Be Mine (8+)
- Giant City (6-12)
- Giant Power AP (Red) (2)
- Huey Lewis (3-4)
- KISS Reissue (6-10)
- Lenin (2)
- Lenin Stamp Poster (4)
- Mailman (8+)
- Mao (2)
- Mao Stamp (4)
- Marilyn Warhol (8-10)
- Mark of the Giant (1)
- New York Wall (1)
- No Runs No Drips (5)
- Obedience Problems (4-8)
- Surveillance (2)
- Tank (5)
- Tokyo Show (unknown amount)
- Warning Surveillance (2)
- Worker (6+)
- Zapata (2)
(Note: In addition to the prints listed above, the English website also offered at least 10 of every print that was released in 2000.)
Sets:
- The Beatles Print Set (2 sets, plus 2 extra single prints)
- Crowd Print Set (1 set)
- Islam Print Set (1 set, plus 5-8 extra single prints)
- The Medium is the Message Print Set (5-6 sets, plus many extra single prints)
- Urban Renewal Print Set (numerous sets - exact amount unknown)
- Vertical 3 Face Print Set (2 sets)