With its roots in comics, punk rock and pop culture, it’s no surprise that the lowbrow-art movement — also known as pop surrealism — was ignored by “serious” critics and galleries in its early days.

This post was updated Feb. 23 at 10:42 p.m. Nehemiah Cisneros’ art is popping with engaging aesthetics. As a graduate student in fine arts, he said he is influenced by undervalued art forms such as ...