This month, the infamous Beautiful Losers art exhibition was unveiled in Lille, France – a move that caused endless questioning amongst Parisians as to why the French capital couldn’t get its act together in time to play host. Word is, it had to do with a change of administration and bad timing at the Palais de Tokyo.

So, as a stellar consolation prize for Paris, a scaled-down variation of the street-art show entitled Ugly Winners opened at Agnes B’s Galerie du Jour last week, spotlighting graphic art, multi-media, and design from the world’s most influential subculture rebels. And, unlike the artwork in Beautiful Losers, it’s all up for sale.

100 people turned out last Thursday evening for the opening, including Agnes B herself, who admitted it was natural for her to host a show of this nature: “These artists are like my family, and I’ve known them all for a long time. It was very important for me to have them here.”

That “family” includes everyone from Harmony Korine and Kaws to Barry McGee, ESPO, Ryan McGinley, Jonone and Futura, whose piece she felt a particular affinity to, considering she exhibited it back in 1992 in the same gallery.

Co-curator Christian Strike was also on hand to sing Futura praises, as well as spill the beans on issues ranging from the Beautiful Losers documentary (currently in production) to an upcoming edition of six hand-painted surfboards by Barry McGee which will be added to the exhibit.

After a couple hours, the chip bowls were empty, the plastic red-wine cups were in the trash cans, and the crowd had dwindled to a select few who overheard Agnes offering her views on liberty. It went something like this:

“I love Paris, but we should move. Everyone should try to move for liberty -- which is our emblem -- because we don’t have enough liberty. We’re very tight. We should learn to be more open. I love my country, but we have to look elsewhere to realize it could be much better...for young people anyway. That’s why I do shows like this.” 

~Linlee Allen

See It:

Check out more of the Ugly Winners opening on psychopedia.com’s Dusk 2 Dawn.

Ugly Winners, April 13- May 27 at Galerie du Jour, 44, rue Quincampoix 75004 Paris; galeriedujour.com