Degree
Doctor of Design (DDes)
Department
School of Art
Document Type
Dissertation
Abstract
This thesis examines the early career of Robert Williams, an artist who emerged from the Los Angeles underground art scene and whose work came to define Lowbrow art, one of America’s most dynamic art movements. Despite his profound influence, Williams’s role as a key figure in the development of late twentieth-century American visual culture is largely overlooked by scholars and critics. This omission reflects the broader marginalization of subcultural movements within the prevailing narratives of postwar American art.
To address this knowledge gap, the study contextualizes Williams’s work within his biography, which intersects the subcultures of carnival life, Kustom Kulture, psychedelic art, underground comix, and punk. Each of these underground communities contributed to the chaotic visual energy, subversive humor, and complex symbolism that characterize his oeuvre. Drawing on personal interviews, alternative archives, and object-based analysis of previously unexamined visual materials, this study employs frameworks from subcultural theory and art historiography to understand Williams as an artist who positioned himself both within and against the dominant narratives of late-twentieth- and early-twenty-first-century American art.
The chapters trace Williams’s early career trajectory from his early experiences in hot rod and custom car culture to his role as founder of the Lowbrow art, a movement that transformed the artistic landscape of Los Angeles before expanding to the global stage. Ultimately, this thesis argues that Robert Williams is more than a peripheral figure of the Los Angeles underground; rather, he is a central force in the evolution of American visual culture. In doing so, it advocates for a more inclusive framework for understanding contemporary art, one that recognizes the subcultural, the commercial, and the transgressive as integral to the evolution of the American avant-garde.
Date
11-19-2025
Recommended Citation
Givens, Joseph R., "Robert Williams, 1943-1992: A Cultural History of Lowbrow Art" (2025). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 6952.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/6952
Committee Chair
Darius Spieth
Included in
American Art and Architecture Commons, American Material Culture Commons, American Popular Culture Commons, Contemporary Art Commons, Modern Art and Architecture Commons