Beautiful Losers

The self-taught San Francisco-based artist Chris Johanson was born in 1968. His work has appeared at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and in the 2002 Whitney Biennial in New York, and he has had solo shows at SITE Santa Fe, the UCLA Hammer Museum, the Jack Hanley Gallery in San Francisco and Deitch Projects in New York. His work has been covered in the New York and Los Angeles Times, Vice, Black Book, Tokion, Paper, Interview and the New Yorker.

Born in San Francisco in 1966, Barry McGee took the tag name "Twist" when he started drawing in the streets in the mid-80s. Some of the more conventional locations where his work has been exhibited include the 2001 Venice Biennale; the Drawing Center, New York; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Growing up, Mike Mills was sure he was going to be a pro skater. Then he got into Cooper Union, found an internship at the groundbreaking design firm, M&Co., and began the design work that would lead to the famous X-Girl logo; skateboard graphics for Supreme, Stereo and Subliminal; scarves and fabrics for Marc Jacobs; fashion related graphics for Esprit and The Gap; Sonic Youth album covers; and a slew of music video directing credits including the Beastie Boys, Beck and Air.Several independent shorts later, he has set up shop with Roman and Sophia Coppola at The Directoris Bureau. In 2005 his first feature, an adaptation of Walter Kirnsis novel Thumbsucker,was released.

"Ed Templeton was born in Orange County, California, in 1972. His parents divorced when he was eight. At age 13 he was introduced to skateboarding, which he credits with changing the course of his life forever. With a month left of high school, he dropped out to start skateboarding professionally in 1990. Soon after, his first trip to Europe significantly changed his worldview, clarifying a love/hate relationship with his hometown that continues to be a source for his work. Templeton started Toy Machine Bloodsucking Skateboard Company in 1993. His first solo exhibition took place in 1994 at Aaron Rose's Alleged Gallery in New York. In 1995 he took up photography in earnest. His first book of photographs, Teenage Smokers, 1999, from Alleged Press, won the $50,000 first prize in the 2000 "Search for Art" in Milan. In 2002 his second book of photographs, The Golden Age of Neglect, was published by Drago in conjunction with an exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. More recently, his work was featured in the bestselling Beautiful Losers, published by Iconoclast. Templeton currently lives and works in Huntington Beach, California, and continues to exhibit, run Toy Machine and skate professionally."

Aaron Rose is an international curator and independent writer. His books include the best-seller, Beautiful Losers and Out & About by Ari Marcopoulos.