Anthony Ausgang (born Anthony Charles Grant Thompson, May 22, 1959) is an artist and writer born in

Pointe-à-Pierre Pointe-à-Pierre ( ) is a town in Trinidad and Tobago. It lies north of San Fernando and south of Claxton Bay. It is most famous as the site of the country's largest (and now, only) oil refinery which used to be run by Petrotrin, the state-ow ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

in 1959 who lives and works in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

.''Vacation from Reality: The Art of Anthony Ausgang'' () Ausgang is a principal painter associated with the lowbrow art movement,''Pop Surrealism'' by Kirsten Anderson () one of "the first major wave of lowbrow artists" to show in Los Angeles in the early 1980s.''Weirdo Deluxe: The Wild World of Pop Surrealism & Lowbrow Art''
by Matt Dukes Jordan () The protagonists of his paintings are cats -- "psychedelic, wide eyed, with a kind of evil look in their eyes".

Biography

He was schooled at the

Otis Art Institute Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...

in Los Angeles. In 1990, Ausgang had his first solo show at the 01 Gallery in Hollywood. Among the places he has exhibited are:

La Luz de Jesus La Luz de Jesus Gallery is a commercial art gallery located in Los Angeles, California. It is closely associated with the Lowbrow Art Movement, Kustom Kulture, and pop surrealism. History La Luz de Jesus Gallery was established in 1986 in Lo ...

, The

Laguna Art Museum The Laguna Art Museum (LAM) is a museum located in Laguna Beach, California, on Pacific Coast Highway. LAM exclusively features California art and is the oldest cultural institution in the area. It has been known as the Laguna Beach Art Associati ...

's "

Kustom Kulture Kustom Kulture is a neologism used to describe the artworks, vehicles, hairstyles, and fashions of those who have driven and built custom cars and motorcycles in the United States of America from the 1950s through today. It was born out of the ...

" show, Kantor Gallery. Merry Karnowsky Gallery, Roq La Rue Gallery, LA Municipal Gallery, and Copro Gallery. In 2009, Ausgang's work was included in the exhibition Apocalypse Wow! at the

Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome The Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, it, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma, italic=no, usually known as MACRO, is a municipal contemporary art museum in Rome, Italy. The museum is housed in two separate places: a former brewery in Via Nizza, ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, and in late 2012, Ausgang was the featured international artist at the Rewind show in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

celebrating the 50th anniversary of

Fender guitar The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC, or simply Fender) is an American manufacturer of instruments and amplifiers. Fender produces acoustic guitars, bass amplifiers and public address equipment, however it is best known for its sol ...

in Italy. By 1993, Ausgang's artistic production consisted of customized cars, original acrylic paintings, and commercial merchandise,''LA Artland: Contemporary Art from Los Angeles'' by Chris Kraus, Ariana Fox () including clothing, puzzles, toys, lighters, and posters. Laguna Art Museum commissioned Ausgang to design a hole for a miniature golf course exhibit at

South Coast Plaza South Coast Plaza is a regional shopping mall in Costa Mesa, California. The largest shopping center on the West Coast of the United States, its pre-COVID sales of over $1.5 billion annually were the highest in the United States. Its 275 retail ...

in 1996. As a "successful artist who appears in several magazines and exhibitions a year", Ausgang also boasts an impressive list of commercial clients including

Tower Records Tower Records is an international retail franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when Tower Recor ...

, MTV,

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainme ...

and David Lee Roth.''Morning Wood''
by Roger Gastman () In 2003, Ausgang designed the cover for '' Dude Descending a Staircase'', the fourth studio album by the British band

Apollo 440 Apollo 440 (also known as Apollo Four Forty or @440) are a British electronic music group formed in Liverpool in 1990. The group has written, recorded, and produced five studio albums, collaborated with and produced other artists, remixed as ...

. In 2010, Ausgang did the cover art for MGMT's second studio album ''

Congratulations Congratulations may refer to: Film and television *'' Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest'', 2005 television programme to commemorate its fiftieth anniversary Music Albums * ''Congratulations'' (album), an album by ...

'', "an eye grabbing illustration that could easily been found on a Grateful Dead release circa 1974" which was nominated by

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

for the

Best Art Vinyl Best Art Vinyl is an annual award that began in 2005. It celebrates artists and designers of vinyl record cover art. The nomination process begins in November and the winners are announced in January, and are exhibited at venues across the United K ...

of 2010. In 2011, Ausgang designed the

Christmas window A Christmas window is a special window display prepared for the Christmas shopping season at department stores and other retailers. Some retailers around the world have become noted for their Christmas window displays, with some becoming touri ...

s for the

La Rinascente (La) Rinascente (; ) is a collection of high-end stores with Italian and international brands in fashion, accessories, beauty, homeware, design and food. It operates eleven stores in Italy, including its general headquarters in Milan and two fl ...

Department Store in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

with larger-than-life three-dimensional models of his trademark psychedelic cartoon cats. KeroseneBomb published Ausgang's first fiction book ''The Sleep of Puss Titter: A Lysenkoist Life in the Random-Word Generation'' in 2011. "Vacation from Reality" is the anthology of his major artworks up to 2007. His artwork is featured in several anthologies, including ''Weirdo Deluxe: The Wild World of Pop Surrealism & Lowbrow Art'' by Matt Dukes Jordan and ''Pop Surrealism'' by Kirsten Anderson. LA Weekly magazine commissioned a painting by Ausgang for their annual "Best Of ... " special issue in 2000. In 2011, Anthony Ausgang received the lifetime achievement award at Beyond Eden's annual art fair at

Barnsdall Art Park Barnsdall Art Park is a city park located in the East Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. Parking and arts buildings access is from Hollywood Boulevard on the north side of the park. The park is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument ...

.LA Weekly article
/ref>

Books

*''Vacation from Reality: The Art of Anthony Ausgang'' (9mm Books, 2007) *''Weirdo Deluxe: The Wild World of Pop Surrealism & Lowbrow Art'' by Matt Dukes Jordan, Artist Anthology (Chronicle Books, 2005) *''LA Artland: Contemporary Art from Los Angeles'' by Chris Kraus, Ariana Fox, Artist Anthology (Black Dog Publishing, 2005) *''Pop Surrealism'' by Kirsten Anderson, Artist Anthology (Last Gasp, 2004) *''Morning Wood'' by Roger Gastman, Artist Anthology (Gingko Press, 2003) *''Taboo: The Art of Tiki'' by Martin McIntosh, Artist Anthology (Outre Gallery Press, 1999) *''Kustom Kulture'' by Ron Turner, Artist Anthology (Last Gasp, 1993) *''Juxtapoz Car Culture'' by Kevin Thomson, Artist Anthology (Gingko Press, 2009)

References

External links

Anthony Ausgang official websiteYou-Tube: Ausgang Ausgang channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ausgang, Anthony 1959 births Living people 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters Painters from California Album-cover and concert-poster artists 20th-century American male artists