Beautiful Losers is pleased to present our second collaboration of 2024, LA LA LAND - a collection of limited-edition apparel, skateboards, and prints with renowned conceptual satirist and LA street icon, Slick. This collection is released on the occasion of his exhibition "I 🙂LA", currently on view in Los Angeles for the month of August.
This collection is one run only and will not be made again. The order window opens August 13 and closes August 26.
The collection includes three t-shirts, three skateboards, and three silkscreen prints. The collection features Slick’s signature happy face artworks, riffing off the iconic yellow symbol. Each skateboard is fully hand dipped in a base coat of lacquer, giving a sculptural quality to each piece. The shirts are custom made and yellow dyed to match by hand. The result is a rich, deeply saturated classic “happy face” yellow. The prints are signed and numbered editions of 99 each. The collection is available individually and as a set.
Slick x Beautiful Losers
LA LA LAND, 2024
Lacquer and printed graphics on skateboards (3)
Limited edition (one run only)
Silkscreen on t-shirts (3)
Limited edition (one run only)
Silkscreen on paper (3)
30 inch diameter each
Signed and numbered edition of 99
Exhibitions:
I 🙂LA, Los Angeles, 2024
Slick stands as one of the great conceptual satirists of our era. His oeuvre serves as a masterclass in parody and satire, incisively commenting on social and political issues. His practice spans a stunning range of output from meticulously precise paintings and exquisitely finished sculpture that mines pop culture in the tradition of Jeff Koons or KAWS - to large scale murals, commercial works, and multiples.
Slick's happy face works are a notable facet of his expansive portfolio, showcasing his ability to infuse familiar symbols with subversive meanings. Reinterpreting the classic icon, Slick uses this imagery to explore themes of consumerism, societal complacency, and the darker undercurrents of popular culture. His happy faces are not just benign symbols of happiness; they are often depicted with a satirical twist, sometimes distorted or accompanied by unsettling elements, thereby challenging the viewer's perception of innocence and simplicity. These works highlight Slick's fascination with the juxtaposition of surface-level cheerfulness and underlying chaos or decay, reflecting his broader critique of societal norms and behaviors. Through this recurring motif, Slick effectively engages in a dialogue about the contradictions inherent in contemporary life, using the happy face as a vehicle for his biting commentary.
These works also serve as compelling commentary on the human condition, probing beneath the surface of universal symbols of happiness. By distorting and reimagining the classic icon, Slick highlights the contrast between outward expressions of joy and the complexities of internal emotional states. These pieces often depict the smiley face with unsettling modifications, reflecting the incongruity between societal pressures to appear content and the realities of individual experiences. Through this lens, the happy face becomes a poignant symbol for the dissonance between perceived and actual well-being, illustrating how societal expectations can mask deeper, often unspoken struggles. Slick's use of this imagery invites viewers to reflect on the performative aspects of happiness and the often superficial nature of societal norms, making a powerful statement about the universal human experience and the masks we wear.
LA LA LAND is one of three components of the greater I 🙂LA exhibit. While the two other components focus on Slick’s trademark satirizing of corporate/brand logos and his cartoon hands, LA LA LAND is presented as a cohesive conceptual multimedia installation featuring his iconic interventions of the classic happy face icon. The installation immerses the viewer in a room completely saturated in the familiar yellow hue, and features an assemblage of paintings, sculpture, and digital works.
Slick’s reworking of the happy face icon began by accident. Slick was commissioned to paint a mural at a festival in Kobe, Japan. The building owner deemed Slick’s initial design as “too dark” and requested something “happier”. In typical Slick fashion, his tongue-in-cheek response was his first happy face mural. This motif has now become one of the artist’s visual hallmarks. The Japan commission led to another mural – the world’s largest happy face in Worcester, MA, the birthplace of the happy face icon created by Harvey Bell. This project earned Slick the keys to the city from the mayor. The next happy face mural (Big Smiling Aloha) was painted in the artist’s hometown of Honolulu for the Children’s Discovery Center.
