Juxtapoz

Juxtapoz is an American art and culture magazine founded in 1994 to give sustained attention to forms of art that were often treated as peripheral by traditional museum and gallery institutions. Created by a group that included artist Robert Williams, publisher Fausto Vitello, artist and cultural commentator C. R. Stecyk III, artist Greg Escalante, and Eric Swenson, the magazine developed from a Southern California and San Francisco cultural context shaped by hot-rod culture, skateboarding, illustration, underground comics, graffiti, and alternative publishing. It is published by High Speed Productions, the San Francisco company also associated with Thrasher magazine. The magazine’s central editorial proposition was to place urban and underground visual culture within a broader art-historical conversation. Rather than presenting graffiti, street art, psychedelic imagery, custom-car design, lowbrow or pop-surrealist work, and commercial illustration as isolated subcultures, Juxtapoz connected them with Pop art, assemblage, conceptual art, old-master painting, and other established traditions. This approach helped create a bridge between artists working outside conventional fine-art institutions and readers interested in the expanding boundaries of contemporary art. Juxtapoz originally reflected Robert Williams’s Kustom Kulture sensibility. That outlook combined the exuberant visual language associated with California hot-rod and custom-car culture, including the legacy of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, with technically accomplished figurative painting and illustration. The magazine’s early identity was therefore closely related to what was variously called lowbrow art or pop surrealism. The terminology was contested, but Juxtapoz gave the artists and communities associated with these styles a highly visible platform and helped establish them as subjects worthy of serious critical and popular attention. The magazine’s cultural point of reference was not limited to New York’s established art world. Its founding outlook emphasized the freedom, popular imagery, and hybrid visual culture of Southern California, while also drawing on the historical importance of Los Angeles’s Ferus Gallery and the work of figures such as Walter Hopps and Irving Blum. This combination of regional identity and art-historical ambition became one of the defining characteristics of the brand. During the early 2000s, Juxtapoz broadened its coverage beyond its initial Kustom Kulture and lowbrow-art emphasis. It increasingly featured emerging and established practitioners working in street art, illustration, contemporary painting, sculpture, installation, and other hybrid forms. Artists covered by the magazine have included KAWS, Mark Ryden, Barry McGee, Todd Schorr, Tara McPherson, Camille Rose Garcia, Tim Biskup, Anthony Ausgang, Michael Pearce, and Tom Sachs. The range of these artists reflects the magazine’s interest in the overlap between popular culture, fine art, design, and independent creative practice. By 2009, Juxtapoz was reported to have the largest circulation of any art magazine in the United States, exceeding the circulation of more established titles such as Art News, Art in America, and Artforum. Its distribution model included print subscriptions, newsstand editions, and digital access. Subscribers could receive editions with cover artwork different from the newsstand version, making the physical magazine itself part of the collecting and visual-art experience. The brand also developed an online presence through its website and digital subscription offering. Juxtapoz remains associated with the documentation and promotion of contemporary urban and alternative art. Its importance lies not only in individual artist coverage but also in its role as a mediator between subcultural production and the wider art market, museum, gallery, and publishing worlds.

Juxtapoz was established in 1994 by a collective of artists and art collectors that included Robert Williams, Fausto Vitello, C. R. Stecyk III, Greg Escalante, and Eric Swenson. Its creation responded to a perceived gap in mainstream art publishing: many forms of contemporary visual culture with strong communities and distinctive histories were not receiving the same attention as gallery-centered modern and contemporary art. The founders sought to create a publication that could celebrate those practices while explaining their connections to recognized art traditions. The magazine emerged from a West Coast cultural environment shaped by Southern California popular culture, custom cars, hot rods, skateboarding, underground comics, psychedelic imagery, and illustration. Its editorial voice was skeptical of the conventions associated with the established New York art world and instead emphasized experimentation, independence, and the creative energy of California. At the same time, Juxtapoz did not present underground art as culturally isolated. Its editorial framework linked graffiti, street art, pop surrealism, Kustom Kulture, and figurative illustration to Pop art, assemblage, conceptual art, old-master painting, and other historical practices. Robert Williams’s artistic outlook was especially influential in the magazine’s early identity. Williams connected the exuberance of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth-style custom-car imagery with highly finished figurative craftsmanship. This sensibility became associated with the lowbrow or pop-surrealist art movements, although artists, critics, and institutions have not always agreed on whether those terms describe a coherent genre. Juxtapoz nevertheless helped make the associated work more visible and provided a common platform for artists who had often developed outside conventional fine-art channels. The magazine’s historical touchstone included the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, which had been run by Walter Hopps and Irving Blum during the 1950s and 1960s. Referencing the Ferus tradition allowed Juxtapoz to frame Southern California as a serious site of artistic innovation rather than merely a source of popular imagery. This regional perspective remained central to the publication even as its subject matter and audience expanded. In the early 2000s, Juxtapoz widened its editorial scope. Coverage increasingly encompassed new forms of street art, contemporary painting, illustration, sculpture, installation, and cross-disciplinary practice. Its artist coverage included KAWS, Mark Ryden, Barry McGee, Todd Schorr, Tara McPherson, Camille Rose Garcia, Tim Biskup, Anthony Ausgang, Michael Pearce, and Tom Sachs. Through this expansion, the magazine moved beyond a narrowly defined lowbrow-art publication while retaining its interest in artists whose work blurred the distinction between popular and fine art. By 2009, Juxtapoz was described as the highest-circulation art magazine in the United States. Its circulation reportedly exceeded that of longer-established art publications including Art News, Art in America, and Artforum. The brand supported print subscriptions, newsstand distribution, and digital subscriptions. Subscriber editions could use alternate cover images, reinforcing the magazine’s status as both an information source and a collectible visual object. Juxtapoz is published by High Speed Productions in San Francisco, the same publishing company associated with Thrasher. Its continuing role is to document and promote urban, alternative, and underground contemporary art while bringing those practices into dialogue with broader art history and the international art ecosystem.

• 2009

  Reported as the highest-circulation American art magazine

  [1]Juxtapozen.wikipedia.org

  Juxtapoz is reported to have the largest circulation among art magazines in the United States, ahead of several more established art titles.

• 2000

  Editorial scope expands

  [1]Juxtapozen.wikipedia.org

  During the early 2000s, the magazine broadens its coverage from its initial Kustom Kulture and lowbrow-art focus to include additional underground and contemporary-art movements.

• 1994

  Juxtapoz is founded

  [1]Juxtapozen.wikipedia.org

  A group of artists and art collectors, including Robert Williams, Fausto Vitello, C. R. Stecyk III, Greg Escalante, and Eric Swenson, establishes Juxtapoz to cover urban alternative and underground contemporary art.

An art and culture publication positioned at the intersection of underground, urban, alternative, and historically informed contemporary art. Juxtapoz emphasizes visual cultures that cross the boundaries between fine art, illustration, street art, graffiti, popular culture, and design.

• Art and culture magazine · 1994

  Juxtapoz print magazine

  The core print publication covers artists, movements, exhibitions, and visual culture associated with urban, alternative, underground, and contemporary art. Its subject range has included Kustom Kulture, pop surrealism, graffiti, street art, illustration, painting, sculpture, and work that connects popular imagery with established art-historical traditions. Print subscriptions may include cover artwork different from the newsstand edition, giving individual issues a collectible character.

• Digital publishing

  Juxtapoz digital subscription

  The digital edition extends the magazine’s editorial coverage beyond physical distribution. It provides subscription-based access to Juxtapoz content for readers who prefer online consumption and supports the brand’s international reach.

• Online media

  Juxtapoz online editorial

  The Juxtapoz website publishes and presents material related to contemporary artists, exhibitions, visual culture, and the magazine’s broader editorial interests. It functions as the brand’s digital publishing and audience-engagement channel.

1. 1Juxtapozen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Juxtapoz official websitejuxtapoz.com