Hasta La Ideas

An assortment of city bikes suited to commuting or cruising

There is no better way to celebrate warm weather than with a bike so we pulled together an assortment of this season’s top commuters and cruisers, all well suited to riding to work or taking a casual spin through the park.

Traitor Cycles’ Luggernaut 3spd is the ideal bike for running around town. The beauty of a classically lugged track frame combined with a 3-speed internal hub gives this urban commuter a sleek look and the ability to tackle everything from city flats to rural hills. The generous Seattle, WA-based company delivers all this plus a lifetime “crash warranty” for only $505.

Best known for his stunning track and road bike builds, Portland’s Jordan Hufnagel is shifting focus to developing the ultimate city commuter. Designed strictly for having a good time ripping around the city, this San Francisco “hill bomber” is a minimal commuter inspired by the classic Swhinns of the 1940s. With a complete custom build ranging from $5,000-10,000, Hufnagel hits a higher price point, but deservedly so.

New for 2011, Raleigh’s Alley Way is a comfortable hybrid that appeals to almost everyone. The standout implementation of a belt drivetrain rather than a traditional chain gives the crank a smoother run while leaving less room for breakdown. At $1,475 the Alley Way looks great and rides even better.

Gary Fisher may have originated the mountain bike but he also knows a thing or two about cruising. The Simple City is a great women’s step-thru you can ride home from the bike shop. Full aluminum fenders help with spring showers and a Swiss-made double-legged kickstand holds this beauty clean and steady when not in motion. With the choice of a 3- (pictured above) or 8-speed internal hub, the Simple City runs between $600-970.

Hand-built by Boston-based ANT bikes, the Boston Roadster strep-thru is gorgeously functional. Designed to your exact specs and available in any range of custom colors makes this roadster an absolute perfect fit with a unique design. The Boston Roadster comes “fully equipped” as well, meaning all the enticing accessories are standard. The custom cruiser sells for around $2,700.

From post-apocalyptic imagery to pop culture references, two painters explore a single theme

When close friends Casey Diebold and Adam Devarney both graduated from Pratt University their journeys as artists naturally took them to very different places. Devarney returned to the serenity of his native Burlington, VT, while Diebold stayed in Brooklyn to work as a commercial storyboard artist. Their diverging paths have finally crossed again in the form of “Godspeed,” a collaborative exhibition opening 9 April 2010 at NYC’s Sacred Gallery.

The loose concept comes from Devarney’s suggestion of the phrase “God Speed”—a term that allows for their their work to be comfortably contained under one main theme, as well as individual interpretations. While Diebold played off the term more literally, depicting ungodly speeds and high-powered action, Devarney saw “Godspeed” as the loose English translation of the French salutation, bon voyage.

Heavily influenced by skateboard culture and ’80s illustration, Devarney’s work mixes mediums, styles and aesthetics. “I am excited by the idea of taking things out of context and re-purposing them, the chemistry interests me,” he explains. Working with wood panels, Devarney explores voyaging characters on the brink of self-destruction. His paintings follow the “vagabonds of the great beyond,” who are fighting the inertia of their movement.

The past might inform the resulting anachronistic portraits, but they’re firmly in the future. Delvarney says, “my work in this show comes from a soulful place. I am exploring characters, weary and worn down, voyagers who have been pushed to the limit. That is something everyone can relate to.” While Devarney’s stoic aviators put the viewer on edge, Diebold captures cinematic realism in incredible detail at frightening speeds.

Diebold creates surreal graphics with dizzying movement and beautiful texture, an approach he says is informed by his “fascination with future dystopian culture and science fiction like ‘Logan’s Run,’ or fictional gang movies like ‘The Warriors.'” His love of films shows in the multiple layers of allusion in his work, from Alex Cox
to George Miller. His choice to depict the action at a particular moment in the narrative forces viewers to think of the infinite possibilities, creating a dreamlike effect.

“Godspeed” opens at Sacred Gallery this Saturday, 9 April 2010, and runs through 30 April 2010.

Win original artwork in an exclusive giveaway for CH twitter followers!

The notebook most likely to be found in artists’ back pockets, Moleskine recently tightened its relationship with the creative community through its Artist Marketplace, an exciting digital venture that lets art fans purchase one-off blank notebooks directly from artists who painted, drew or otherwise created imagery on the covers. Whether budding or established, anyone can sell their customized notebook online by simply covering it in art, uploading an image of it and setting a price.

The growing shop includes a huge roster of talented artists, but Bob London, Miss Lotion and Brad Fisher are each donating a notebook to three lucky CH readers. U.K.-based illustrator Bob London (top left) has exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery and worked extensively as a commercial artist for clients such as The New York Times and Carhartt. Miss Lotion, a Danish artist, opts for gouache paint for her customizations. Having previously studied both graphic design and illustration, her hand-painted notebooks (above right) showcase lessons learned from both disciplines.

American artist Brad Fisher is “stoked” to be working with Moleskine on this project. His series “The French Books” (above) is inspired by the romantic idea of sitting at a cafe with nothing but a pen and paper.

To win one of the three notebooks shown here, follow us on Twitter and tweet at us what you use your Moleskine for by 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, 6 April 2010. Be sure to include @coolhunting and #moleskine in your tweet. To become part of the project, visit Moleskine’s Artist Marketplace for more information.

Photographer Hunter Barnes’ intimate images of an obscure American religion

In an era of digitally-manipulated images, Oregon-based photographer Hunter Barnes is one of a strong contingent who continue to create powerful pictures through a documentary approach. Intent on revealing unseen lifestyles, Barnes immerses himself within a community—past subjects have included ranchers, bikers and Native Americans—building trust with its members to intimately depict the reality of misunderstood subcultures.

For his latest project, “A Testimony of Serpent Handling,” Barnes traveled to the hills of West Virginia to document the last of a small community of Serpent Handlers. Abiding by the word of God, this dwindling religion (less than 15 members remaining) is largely unknown and fading fast in America. There, Barnes shot traditional black-and-white photography, documenting their miracle healing, poison drinking and serpent handling, in a series which he will exhibit at Milk Gallery NYC and with an extensive book.

With the process of completing the book underway, Barnes needs to further generate funds by 28 April 2011 to meet production and publication deadlines. To pledge support and help bring this project to publication, jump over to Kickstarter, where he’s halfway to reaching his goal of raising $12,000.

How one global art community is connecting through sketchbooks

Five years ago, Shane Zucker and Steven Peterman, fed up with the challenge of making a living as artists, founded Art House as a student project. Now, the active online community has over 50,000 users and an art library that is traveling the United States.

Art House’s beginnings go back to Atlanta College of Art (SCAD since bought it), where Shane was studying graphic design and Steven, printmaking. Seeing their friends daunted by the task of getting into galleries as a daunting task, the two rented a space and held their own pay-to-play exhibit, charging artists enough to show so that it covered their overhead.

Shane’s father mentioned sketchbooks—what if people from all over the world paid to submit sketchbooks to be displayed? Between April and November of 2010, 28,000 people signed up to be a part of the Sketchbook Project and 10,000 of the sketchbooks sent out to people in 94 countries were sent back. The collection is now touring nine U.S.cities and you can even get a library card to check them out.

Shane sat down with me and a new member of the Art House team, Eli Dvorkin, recently to explain the power of community.

What is the meaning of paying to be part of an art project?

Eli: We’re not telling anyone that they are going to suddenly become famous through this. Also, we don’t sell any of the work. There’s no financial benefit to anyone here. If you think about the resources that go into this tour and having a permanent space in Brooklyn, it adds up to a lot of money and time. As five people or even 100 of your closest friends, you could never do this, but when 10,000 people come together, you can actually do it.
Shane: For a lot of galleries, art is a means of commerce. They make money. That’s just not us.

How would you describe the typical participant?

S: Serious artists. Scrapbookers. Moms. There’s a huge range of people who do the Sketchbook Project. There are teachers that have their students do it and then there are senior citizens who are just bored.

Is there any sense that you’re reigniting peoples’ involvement in art?

E: People have written exactly that to us. People say, “This is essentially my one outlet a year for my artistic impulses.” Overtime they sit down with the sketchbook and it’s with them for a good chunk of the year. We get little life stories. Like 10,000 lives on shelves. Only a small subsection is any formal study. It’s cathartic.

When you check out a book, you choose a theme. What’s with that?

S: Steve came up with most of the themes. My favorite is “Science Project Gone Wrong.”
E: I think I’d have to go with “Mystery Maps” even though I devised it. The themes are not rules, but it’s interesting to see how a teenager in Singapore and a senior in Canada interpret “Science Project Gone Wrong.”

What’s next?

E: We’re starting to collect a lot more information about the participants. When you check out a sketchbook, the artist has the option to be notified by SMS and eventually you’ll be able to get in touch through our website.
S: We’re going to relaunch the site and will be scanning most of the sketchbooks so that people can start tagging individual pages of books. You”ll be able to search “Photography” and “China” and find results. But what’s really cool is that we don’t have to do that, because the community is dying to get involved.

Any personal projects?

E: Shane, you better not!
S: No, this has been pretty full time. I haven’t even made a sketchbook. Steve started one, but I don’t know if he finished it.
E: We have a lot going on at Art House though. Soon we’ll be launching our own notebook collection. The names will co-ordinate to the sizes, like “Back Pocket,” “Messenger Bag,” etc.
S: And of course there’s the tour and soon we’ll start sending out the 2011 sketchbooks to participants!

The 2010 Sketchbook Project began in April, so stay tuned for this year’s launch. Also, to see the library in person, check out the 17,900-mile tour or the permanent location in Brooklyn.

Photography by Aaron Kohn