Reviews For Juxtapoz Magazine

I teach AP History of Art which is a survey course. It's hard to cover the entirety of the history of visual representation in two short semesters, but I try.

Art History, like World History is very fast-paced. To cover so much in a year we have to go a "mile wide and an inch deep."

Our text is immense and laborious to read. I try to find magazines and articles that will cover some of our material in a more palatable way. If you've ever taken Art History you know what I mean.

I ordered a subscription to Juxtapoz without knowing anything about the magazine other than it looked at contemporary art. By contemporary, I mean cutting edge and in the galleries now.

I'm a fan of ancient art and 19th century Pre-Raphaelite works. I have had a hard time coming to grips with so-called "modern" art. That is, until my first issue of Juxtapoz arrived.

There are a lot of ads, for exhibitions and for products geared for a younger audience. One page might feature a highly graphic ad for Vans skateboarding shoes. Next could be a five page series ad for Mini Cooper. I love this one that leads into the two page spread with the car. It features family portraits such as "The Other Niedermeyer" that shows parents and six children. They look like a typical nerdy sort of family except for the twelve year old long-haired biker kid in leathers. I'm happy to see these ads because it gives me a greater understanding of the quirky products my students find interesting. Many of the ads are works of art by themselves.

Mind-blowing cannot begin to express the art found in these pages. Often dark, the art work featured here has an urban edginess that reflects the cynical nature that young artists perceive in the world. For the most part, the art is representational rather than abstract. Reality is abstracted in that it is altered, but still recognizable. One recent feature about artist Aaron Horkey shows strangely eerie creatures that are odd combinations of animals and other life forms. I liked it very much. I keep going back and looking at the paintings to find odd little details that I'd missed before.

The work of graffiti artists turns up fairly often but is in no way prevalent.

The styles represented vary greatly--from very tightly rendered paintings to loose gestural painterly images.

The magazine has regular features such as "Style Sheet" which highlights interesting products each month. There is usually an unusual shoe of some kind. An example would be the Converse high tops with an "eye-catching custom laser-etched, band-aid graphic." They are really cool. Sometimes there are trendy skateboard decks and unusual t-shirts.

There is a fun section called "Toybox" that exhibits bizarre mutant toys and figures. One might also find a retro reissue of Buck Rogers Atomic Disintegrator. Links are given to the online toy stores that sell the products.

There are profiles of different artists each month. I've not heard of any of them, but I'm betting that I will. The magazine seems to lean toward monthly themes of paintings or photographs or drawings. There are several in-depth interviews with contemporary artists each month.

I find myself looking at each issue again and again. My students have adored it and anxiously ask after it around the beginning of each month. They read it cover to cover and talk about the images they see. It's been a tremendous resource for contemporary art. I've seen some of the students making sketches from works in the magazine.

The magazine has a nice glossy cover and well done color representations of the artworks. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in contemporary art and also to those who like to see some really weird stuff.

Recommended:
Yes

If you are a fan of art in any way then you will probably find soimething aesthetically appealing in this magazine..month after month. The broad range of artwork displayed by this magazine is incredible. While a majority is modern art, the featured artists styles are always spread across the spectrum of art. The writing is witty and informative giving both fact and opinion. Artist from Robert Williams to the San Francisco graffitti artist Twist are featured regularly. They have the coolest T-shirts and posters for sale and if you give this magazine a chance, you will want to order something. There is only one place to see the other side of art, the underground side and that place is Juxtapoz. My best frien in jail only wants me tyo send him one thing, can you guess what that is.

Recommended:
Yes

Juxtapoz is the magazine for people who think fine art is too flaky or pretentious. The new movement of lowbrow, nobrow and folk art comes together in this publication by lowbrow art guru Robert Williams. These are the artists who are talented enough to hold their own in any gallery but too offbeat to be showcased in the mainstream. When something slips through the cracks of the artistic community in ends up in Art Juxtapoz magazine. Unlike anything you've ever seen! I will warn you it covers such a large variety of artists you may not like EVERYTHING you see, but your bound to like some if not most of it. Juxtapoz does for art magazines what the "Blair Witch Project" did for movies, puts things back in the hands of the creators! It's published bi-monthly and I would subscribe but my local bookshops carry it so I just buy them there. -Enjoy!


Recommended:
Yes

Juxtapoz is dispassionate in a romantic and violent society. It's vision is not dazzled by the neons which rainbow the night. It has the X-ray eye that penetrates the blacktop and fog. It has the gift of tongue, and is poetic. Metophoric visions flower in a language suited to the postmodern people and places it describes. It does not moralize, satirize, deplore or lament. It sees, selects, and says in a language that lives.

Juxtapoz contains low brow art and all that is beautiful and ugly about it. It demonstrates the spare, muscular prose and understated action, the same dispassionate eye for this milieu, the same prodigality of imagery and acute sense of space which characterizes everything it encompasses.

No reader of Juxtapoz can fail to recognize the genesis of this mag. as the flowering of an inimitable style which make it one of the great flanueres of our times.


Recommended:
Yes

I don't just consider Juxtapoz a magazine. I consider it a muse, an inspiration, and a beacon of hope for creativity in the new millineum. Every issue is packed with diverse, in-depth stories and interviews that never fail to impress me. And unlike most other magazines that jam one or two good articles amidst black and white filler and boring full page corporate advertisements, Juxtapoz has ads so fresh and clever that you can appreciate them just as much as the great writing and art featured inside each issue.

As a fan of "lowbrow" style artwork, I can't help but enjoy Juxtapoz. There are always references to legends such as Coop and Robert Williams, as well as up and coming artists that deserve the exposure. They even throw in interesting interviews with people who may not be visual artists by definition, but who's stories always relate to the modern art world and keep you just as fascinated. There are other magazines with a similar format that have "good" issues and "not so good" issues, but for the past 3 years I have always found something superior in Juxtapoz.

If you're an artist, or just a fan of visual art, pick up a copy of Juxtapoz and I can guarantee that you'll be impressed. If the eye catching covers don't get your attention, just flip through the contents and I'm sure you'll find something to keep you coming back for more.


Recommended:
Yes

I teach at an art school...all I can say is that this magazine keeps me sane! There have been lots of phrases coined to describe art that can't or won't fit into the neat little Academic Art boxes. Terms like "Outsider Art" "Outre" and "Retro" are all illustrated in this amazing publication. If you want the ultra-chi-chi Post-Modern A Go-Go stuff that sells in most galleries today, look elsewhere. Juxtapoz is art by people who like to make art. Anything goes, and the Art Speak is refreshingly absent or toned down. The editors have a sharp eye for quality however, so don't worry about this being another "Anything can be art" experience. It's fun the way your first Hot Rod magazine was, or Low Rider, or Famous Monsters, or Vampirella, etc. If you're tired of the current wave of ultra self-absorbed Art, this is just the tonic you crave....

For an artist interested in an 'outside the norm' art movement, this mag opens the doors to a wealth of imagination. It often features artists like Mark Ryden and Eric White, Shag, Gary Baseman but it also features less known artists too. A definite recommendation. The magazine is colorful, whimsical and always entertaining. A+

What input can I throw in that hasn't been typed already? Not much. Lame response,right?...well, most of these reviewers seem very competent about today's art scene, and i have to agree with most of what's being said. I can only praise this magazine and what breath of fresh air it's bringing to our newsstands. Juxtapoz showcases the underground movement of Graffiti-modern pop art-street art amongst many other mediums being introduced today. While, yes, I'd have to agree with another reviewer that it remains biased to certain artists and their showcases, but what the hell, right? I have been searching bookstores for a magazine like this, and have only come across publications that focus on one main subject, like graphic design, abstract art, indie art, so on,so forth, but it was a relief finding Juxtapoz and it's vast subject matter because I see what i'm familiar with, and enjoy..and then at the same time, introduced to artists i've never seen or heard before. Definite pickup, and definitely subscription material.peace and im out.

I first heard of Juxtapoz from an Airbrush artist. At the time I was still doing the pretty little paintings you see in Artist's magazine. I was so bored and unhappy doing old lady art. I wanted to be more than a human camera. Then Juxtapoz came to my studio. It was love at first sight. This was my inner artist the one I lost when I went to art college. I've subscribed for three years now and it is wonderful letting my inner artist out to play!

Beautiful, thought provoking, interesting, inspiring, and disturbing. I would like to see it in larger format,and with more pages. Nevertheless, as-is,a perfeKt magazine. Worth every penny to subscribe.