Four years ago, burnt out on the way mainstream snowboarding was headed, artist and professional snowboarder Corey Smith turned to his Lake Tahoe garage/studio for refuge. Here, he founded Spring Break Snowboards, an art project aimed at bringing the activity he loved…
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Minnesota may be known for ice fishing, but the huts many a grandfather once huddled in have nothing on those created for the Art Shanty Projects, an artist-driven community temporarily located on White Bear Lake, MN….
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Our latest shipment with the subscription service features Joshua Harker’s 3D filigree brilliance
Back in November 2011, we announced our partnership with the subscription service Quarterly Co., which offers users the chance to receive gifts in the mail from a roster of design-minded contributors four times per year. For the second shipment, Cool Hunting co-founders Josh Rubin and Evan Orensten sent subscribers a miniature “Crania Anatomica”, a sculpture by Chicago-based artist Joshua Harker.
We first learned about Joshua when he was seeking funding for the project on Kickstarter with the goal to raise $500; he ended up with $77,271, the highest funded sculpture project in the history of the website. Now, Joshua has created a version exclusively for our second Quarterly shipment. We’re thrilled to offer subscribers a little something that celebrates the human form and serves as a solid addition to any cabinet of curiosities. Subscribers have been receiving theirs over the last few days and have been tweeting pictures of the little 3D-printed filigree wonder in various settings.
Due to high demand, Quarterly Co. is currently closed to new subscribers, but you can join their waiting list or check out their blog for more information.
Images by Josh Rubin
First look at the second issue of the Lindsay Lohan-focused zine by Bibiru and The Wormholes
The 25-year-old actress-singer-jailbird Lindsay Lohan has attracted as much publicity off-screen as she has for her roles in slasher films and family comedies alike. The hijinks that have led her in and out of rehab centers and through the criminal justice system has always left us wondering whether she’s a celebrity trainwreck or a brilliant self-publicist—or both.
Late last year Mexican-American artist Bibiru and his cohorts The Wormholes put together a 56-page zine dedicated to Lohan, a brilliantly titled, vaguely tongue-in-cheek tribute that captured massive attention and prompted renewed reflection on her undeniable beauty.
Bibiru is following up on the black-and-white zine’s success with a second issue dropping in the coming days, and a third in the works. “We The Wormholes love Her Majesty and we believe she’s here to teach humanity about love,” says Bibiru. “She has a naturally ability to cast a spell over millions.”
Bibiru jokes that the images were beamed down from extraterrestrial friends but then, in a brief moment of serious reflection, admits the project seems to be running away with itself, seemingly fueled by Lohan’s controversial stronghold on pop culture. He’s not surprised, though—“We felt its power but didn’t know what to expect.”
The second issue is due to drop this week, and will sell for $7.
A desk lamp inspired by sailboats in Brittany
Exactly one year ago, Foscarini launched the Binic, a charming little lamp by French designer Ionna Vautrin. With an overarching nautical theme, the name comes from a small lighthouse on the coast of Vautrin’s hometown of Brittany, France and the shape is inspired by the wind sock of a ship.
With its diminutive stature and quirky aesthetic, the Binic still commands a distinct presence on the desktop. The base is in satin aluminum, while the projector is made of glossy polycarbonate, enclosed in a simple inclined screen that gently spreads the light. Made in Italy, the lamp has been a bestseller over the course of the year, not to mention an award-winner—Binic was named “Best Table Light 2011” at the Wallpaper Design Awards.
We caught up with Vautrin to talk about her instantly beloved piece.
I like the idea of an object that is incarnated, nearly personified. Binic was originally inspired by wind socks but in the process it became more alive. But anyone can find his own personal reference.
I don’t know if it’s a special sensibility, but I always had fun working on it. The color is fundamental for a project, it’s not something I would ignore. To me it’s important as the definition of the shape or the choice of materials and finishings.
The Cyclope Mirror and the collection of vases have recently been produced by Moustache. Actually I’m working on a few different projects: a collection of bags for Nava Design, some big fabric animals for Kvadrat and a personal exhibition at the Tools Galerie in Paris.
Binic is available in 2,800 design shops and distributed in 88 countries across the world. For more information head to Foscarini online.
A lifetime of found treasures meticulously collaged into one 30-yard container
Like a young, curious boy trapped in a grown man’s body, collagist, animator, director and all-around creative renaissance man Mac Premo has collected a lifetime’s worth of somehow-sentimental objects in his Brooklyn Studio. Now, spurred by the move to a smaller studio, he was forced to get rid of many of these innumerable “treasures.” Rather than discard them Premo decided to build one massive collage inside a 30-yard dumpster, and thus The Dumpster Project was born.
Previously residing in Brooklyn’s Dekalb Market, the Dumpster Project recently made the journey down to the Miami Design District for The Pulse Art Fair. Here Premo displayed his walk-in-collage and its 500-or-so inhabitants for all to see and experience.
Once inside it’s immediately apparent that this is no dumpster simply full of junk, but a collage in every essence. And although the concept sounds overwhelming, the execution is anything but. As a skilled craftsman on many levels and certified carpenter Premo has meticulously built every object into the structure, filling each and every nook to form one free-flowing, interweaving three dimensional collage.
Perched atop never-ending shelving and tables—which stand above a salvaged hardwood floor—you’ll find some 500 unique treasures each holding an equally unique story. From Premo’s favorite skateboard he’s owned for 30 years to half a portrait of Chinese Communist leader Chairman Mao and half-a-Jesus, to a ticket stub from a baseball game that never happened.
“The stuff we keep that appears to have no use, no actual value, that’s the stuff that defines us. Not the actual objects, but the stories behind them,” reasons Premo. And so, to tell said tales he photographed and cataloged each talisman prior to assembling of the Dumpster. All of which can be seen alongside a cheeky blurb on his explanatory blog. Updated with one object each day to keep readers on their toes for the next year and a half, the blog makes a perfect between-work-assignments site to check.
To learn more about Premo and his art keep an eye on The Dumpster Project, now touring with future sites and dates soon-to-be announced.
A proposed project from an acclaimed artist aims to illuminate the Bay Bridge
With the rest of the country gathering for scattered tree-lighting ceremonies, Leo Villareal has been busy trying to illuminate another iconic structure: the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Villareal envisions covering the northern expanse of the bridge with The Bay Lights, a dynamic light display that reflects off the surface of the water below. A nod to the 100th anniversary lighting of the Eiffel Tower, the project should come to life just in time to celebrate the 75th silver anniversary of the Bay Bridge in 2012.
The ongoing fundraising for the $7 million project will pay for the installation of 25,000 bulbs (outward-facing to avoid distracting commuters). With the environment in mind, project architects aim to keep energy costs to a fairly modest $11,000 over the proposed two-year installation period. The installation, which takes inspiration from ideas related to connectivity and mobility, promises to make a spectacular sight from the northeast side of San Francisco.
Villareal has an impressive list of large-scale light installations under his belt, but the Bay Lights project would take his work to a monumental new level. To learn more about Villareal, check out our video of the artist from 2007 above.
A massive compilation of the Japanese master artist’s sketchbooks now available in a single book
One of the best-known artists of the Edo period and famous for his ukiyo-e series 36 Views of Mount Fuji, which includes his ubiquitous wave print, Katsushika Hokusai greatly influenced artists from Monet and the Impressionists to Picasso. Hokusai began painting at age six, instigating a lifetime dedicated to both serious and casual art-making, which he viewed as an expression of self-help. He was also known as a marketing maverick, popularizing his work and attracting students with a series of sketchbooks he called manga; he produced 12 during his lifetime and three were published after his death. The hugely impressive collection includes an array of seemingly effortless sketches and studies of people, animals, nature and more that capture emotions with impeccable detail.
Typically the notebooks are sold separately or in a multi-volume set, but this new edition combines all 15 of Hokusai’s notebooks into a single tome. The 970-page anthology contains more than 3,900 individual drawings, paintings and woodblock prints “sketched at random and in a carefree manner.”
The massive book opens with a brief tutorial of sorts in “geometrical construction.” Hokusai breaks down his subjects to their most basic forms, components so simple he drew them with only a compass and ruler. Here one can see his use of overlapping flat circles to achieve a sense of volume and depth, and conversely consecutive circles drawn in a row to create a sense of flatness.
Further into the collection one can see both paintings and sketches, which showcase Hokusai’s extreme control with both fine and broad brush techniques. Hokusai Manga keeps the reader, or viewer, in a constant state of curiosity, changing subjects from page to page. This of course is due to Hokusai’s own exploratory eye that led him to sketch anything and everything that caught his attention, a spirit exemplified in the many humorous portrait-style paintings and detailed caricature drawings.
Hokusai Manga can be found on Amazon for $43.
A freelance programmer using DIY technology as a tool to teach with Machine Project
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Catering to “overambitious amateur enthusiasts,” Machine Project conjures up an idiosyncratic fusion of classes and workshops that masterfully craft pedagogy out of the infinite realm of possibility. Hosting a range of workshops from psychic communion with plants to the typography of ransom notes, Machine Project is a non-profit arts organization that operates as an “informal educational institution” from its unassuming storefront in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles. Founder Mark Allen explains the cult appeal of the classes, stating, “We found that an engineer and a poet talking about noise music was even more interesting than a group of poets talking about poetry or a group of scientists discussing science.”
Born in Vermont, Allen received his MFA at the California Institute of the Arts and began honing his curatorial leanings towards the obscure through a series of trial and error. In Houston, Allen ran a gallery called Revolution Summer that adopted the Marxist theme of time as currency for the purchase of art works. Shortly after moving to LA, Allen became involved with the subversive art collective, C-Level (currently reincarnated as Betalevel), a group that was known for such sardonic situationist commentary as virtual cockfighting—contestants donned rooster suits with sensors—and the shock-inducing video game, Tekken Torture Tournament.
While at C-Level Allen started to combine his love for technology with a flourishing aptitude for teaching, which laid the groundwork for his philosophical approach to Machine Project. “My interest in teaching unexpected, creative and unsanctioned uses of technology in the production of art is in direct support to the idea that technology is a tool which can be used by any motivated individual,” he says. As a freelance programmer and a faculty member of the Digital Art Related Program Activities (DARPA) initiative at Pomona College, Allen relies heavily on the gestalt of technology factors in creating new courses at Machine Project, but at the same time invites a naturalistic study of the world around us.
In 2008, Machine Project took over the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for a day, and turned it inside out as a metaphorical nature center of activity, comprised of more than 60 projects that included “ambient haircuts,” musical elevators and a murder mystery entitled “A Machine Project Field Guide to the LA County Museum of Art.” Inspired by the artistry of set designers Christy McCaffrey and Sara Newey who designed the ornate gate created for the event, Allen asked the team to imagine a transformative environment for Machine Project’s own storefront. The result was an immersive forest installation that housed woodland-themed events involving banjo plucking, elf lore and “a presentation by some very dedicated Bigfoot enthusiasts.”
The inquisitive wit and spirited atmosphere at Machine Project is reflected in both the class subjects—a selection based on chance meetings with talented individuals—and the “hide-and-seek” mechanisms throughout the space. Whether it’s teaching a parent-child course on How to Steal Cars—”Our belief is that children who learn to steal cars with their parents are more likely to steal cars responsibly when they grow up,” Allen quips—or the storefront’s tree stump dumb waiter that delivers beer, Machine Project transforms the everyday into something simultaneously extraordinary and achievable.
Allen explains, “If you look around wherever you’re sitting there’s a large percentage of things whose workings are totally mysterious: cellphone, tape dispenser, refrigerator, computer. We are surrounded by a material culture where most people remain unaware of how everything that surrounds them is made. Machine Project exists to provide an opportunity for people to understand their built environment, to create a space in which accessibility to knowledge and hands-on, DIY learning experiences can happen right in our own neighborhood.”
This story is part of an editorial series sponsored and inspired by Le Meridien.
New Perspectives explores fresh ideas and distinct points of view in global art and culture.
A British X-ray photographer turns to whisky for his latest subject
Shooting with an X-ray machine rather than with a traditional camera, British photographer Nick Veasey produces surprising, visually enchanting work that begs the observer to think about what’s under the surface. With more than twenty years of experimental experience, the TED speaker‘s fascinating body of work spans subjects from insects and flowers to cars and even airplanes, each broken down to expose its raw inner components. Veasey’s next project finds him putting his graphic images on whisky boxes as part of a collaboration with The Macallan.
Adorned with images inspired by the Macallan’s six pillars—spiritual home, curiously small stills, finest cut, exceptional oak casks, natural color and peerless spirit—Veasey’s special box set dresses up their signature Sherry Oak 12 Year Old bottles for the 2011 holiday season.
In anticipation of the soon-to-be-released holiday editions, we talked to Veasey about his unique craft and his recent work with the whisky maker.
I’m not the first to use X-rays when creating art, but I do like to think my X-rays are the most impactful. I’ve been doing this and nothing else for 20 years. I’ve always been a keen experimenter and never one to obey rules. I saw some X-rays of objects a long time ago and they made a big impression on me. From my first X-ray exposure I’ve known there is nothing else I want to do. I love X-ray, it’s that simple.
Indeed, special equipment is required, but not a camera. I use X-ray machines similar to those in hospitals, but more powerful. Basically electrons are charged in a vacuum. These electrons become radiographic photons, another spectrum of light. This spectrum of light is invisible and radioactive. That is why it is so dangerous. I have a specially built bunker to control the radiation. The radiographic passes through the subject being X-rayed and leaves an impression on film or a digital capture device.
The Macallan is a big supporter of photography. They have previously worked with Rankin and Albert Watson on their Masters of Photography Series. When we X-rayed the bottle for Macallan we did it full and empty, meaning there was some on hand for me to drink! I find The Macallan to be a very nice Scotch—I get an earthy mellow taste and thoroughly enjoy a dram every now and again after a long day in the studio.
Well, on one level the results are unique as these subjects had never been X-rayed before. The house and the water droplet were particularly challenging to shoot. X-raying a house is not simple, nor is X-raying a moving drop of water. My x-ray equipment is not portable so we had to create these images in my X-ray lab. That took some doing, believe me.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
