Welcome!

Hello! I hope that everyone who gets a chance to read this blog will come away with a new insight on what is being discussed, even if you disagree with me completely. That is the plan.

Personally, I am from Maine and have been living in Portland for the last five years, enjoying local theatre, music and other venues. I studied theater in Cork, Ireland for six months and have written several short plays with moderate acclaim. I hope to soon craft a full-length play, but until then will be departing my wit and wisdom on other people's endeavors. So, happy reading and thanks for your time, -- Josh Harriman

Beautiful Losers

Out of form and into place. Left of the grid-work, go straight and then take a sharp right and stop. Dip the pen in the paint and draw circles, going the opposite direction of the start. Stop. The sun doesn't know it's a star.

This is the thought process running through my head after watching 'Beautiful Losers' on Thursday night, Sept. 11, at the Space Gallery. The ninety-minute film was an intimate view of a small group of artists based in New York who become recognized for doing what they loved best: spraying graffiti on streets, canvas and the preconceived notions of a suburban dream.

Opening with a man playing an accordion through a few notes, repeatedly, the movie starts with a statement: this is the happening, this is the introduction--simple, complete and expressive.

As the artists are introduced, they each have their own flair, either a suit and tie, a story about block painting charting daily life or actually telling kids at a playground how a friend lost his head fifteen years ago in the exact spot they are playing. Each artist gives a first breath of inspiration and individuality as they are introduced, and this is no easy feat because there are a lot of them, including: Ed Templeton, Jo Jackson, Chris Johanson, Geoff McFetridge, Shepard Fariley, Stephen Powers, Mike Mills, Barry McGee, Thomas Campbell, Margaret Kilgallen and Harmony Korine.

The film, which debuted in March of 2008 and is directed by Aaron Rose and Joshua Leonard, does well in maintaining room for the various artists, as if each were creating their own section of the film, and telling a story of disassociated kids using art to come to terms with their insecurities.

The artists readily admit to a sense of being losers, outcasts, nerds and general social rejects. This 'outside' feeling is what colors their work. They use their art to strike back. During one interview a graffiti artists admits to his city graffiti as being obtuse and inconvenient to many, but that is the point, he says, the world keeps interfering with the simple life, butting in when it isn't needed or wanted.

The subjects of the film are motivated individuals expressing themselves on boxcars, street signs, automobiles and in the 'dance' of skateboarding. As the stories progress, art takes them beyond adolescent angst and into a life of international success.

These artists made it.

The film focuses on the early efforts of the individuals, but explores their recognition as well. Several of them were paid to live in Tokyo and promote their work with what appears to be large-scale public graffiti painting and even live demonstrations of painted cars crashing in a small demolition derby on the streets.

The method of filming which allows the artists to perform caricatures of themselves, as if the film were itself an art gallery, while creative, prevents the fact-driven format of a conventional documentary. With so many artists, it becomes confusing as to who knows who and how and where they are all from. Both San Francisco and New York are named as launching pads, but the distinction of place and time is fuzzy. This is where the open-ended nature of the film hits its biggest weak spot, in the hard facts.

But that doesn't stop the film from asking big questions, particularly: What is success to these artists? Many appear to be making an upper-middle class income on selling their talents. Some sell their designs on t-shirts, some on advertising and some on creating cartoon commercials. One did a commercial for Pepsi. For Pepsi?

Most of the artists express a typical sour taste towards success, after all, its just money. But it raises a big question: what does an artist do to be a full-time artist, a mother, a father, a homeowner, someone with a nice, new, electric car? They, the artists, have grown up and chosen answers for these questions in their own way and relatively on their own terms, if such a thought exists to an artist struggling to upset the status quo.

The film covers heavy hitters. These artists have influenced upcoming generations all the while in an off-kilter, unconventional and still undefined mix of mediums. 'Beautiful Losers' revels in its narratives and in the last scene it stays true to itself by stating through an interview to never trust what people say on film, disrupting any final statement. The statement instead being the film.

This movie is a valuable mirror for anyone aspiring to be creative or is starting to be recognized for creative endeavors, and it is an interesting look at the people behind the madness, especially for those who see art as foreign and irrelevant in their daily lives. This movie is especially important for anyone who sees themselves as a, well, loser.

The Space will not have an additional screening for the movie, although they do have a Sept. 18 viewing of 'Under Our Skin', a film looking at Lyme disease, and a Sept. 27 showing of the 11th annual Manhattan Short Film Festival.

'Beautiful Losers' is still being shown in some theaters around the nation and will soon be available on DVD. For more information and a movie preview, go to beautifullosers.com.