Beautiful Losers is a group art show curated by Aaron Rose of New York’s Alleged Gallery and Christian Strike of Iconoclast Editions. It debuted in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2004 and has since trotted to numerous cities around the globe. The featured artists–including Thomas Campbell, Cheryl Dunn, Shepard Fairey, Jo Jackson, Chris Johanson, Margaret Kilgallen, Harmony Korine, Geoff McFetridge, Barry McGee, Mike Mills, Steven “Espo” Powers, Aaron Rose, Ed Templeton and numerous others–are tied together by the duel influences of skateboarding and street art. In early 2005, the show made a four-month stop at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, California.

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Greeting arriving art lovers out in the parking lot was a sick-ass Barry McGee installation featuring an overturned panel van that had been invaded by an automated vandal, who was busy as a bee spray-painting the interior. Inside the building, highlights included a huge wall full of art-filled skateboard decks, a glass display case full of vintage skate-related books and zines, and many impressive art displays and installations from the participants. It was funny to see a bunch of older, finely-threaded wealthy people toddling around checking out skate stuff along with all the usual skateboarder and art hipster suspects. And as if all that weren’t enough, a big hardcover book accompanied the exhibition, and in 2008, the whole shebang was released as a movie.

Text and photos ©2005 Arcane Candy.