The new holy grail of vinyl toydom. He’s laughing at how much you’re going to pay… 

Yeah, that thing’s real. It’s a special collaborative figure made by KAWS and Chinese art phenomenon YUE MINJUN for a special show of vinyl toys designed by Chinese artists called “Art For The Masses” at Taipei’s MUSEUM OF TOMORROW that opened tonite (through July 27th). Featuring new sculpts by  ZHOU TIEN HAI, LIU YE, JING YU, ZHOU CHUN YA, and YUE MINJUN (with KAWS), the show is the first to address the genre for a Chinese audience incorporating domestic modern artists. All figures have been produced in runs of 500 pieces for sale at the museum and are not being distributed domestically. Translation: keep your eyes on eBay and your PayPal account locked & loaded. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Mixmaster Spade lives!…

LA’s revolving outdoor art gallery that is the UNDEFEATED BILLBOARD PROJECT on LaBrea Ave features new work this month by none other than the local art collective/”social club” GENTS OF DESIRE, aka: Jonathan Bleser (FINN), and Alexis Ross (DOOM). Commemorating the late underground Hip-Hop legend MIXMASTER SPADE who died in a motorcycle accident in 2005, the billboard puts their trademark old school style front and center on one of Hollywood’s most heavily trafficked corridors. To commemorate the piece, NIKE and UNDFTD have teamed up to throw a charity reception on Sunday, June 29th benefiting the East LA Community Youth Center. The throwdown kicks off behind the UNDFTD shop (home of a new Gents mural) at 112 1/2 LaBrea at 5pm and the price of admission is a pair of fresh, unworn kix which go directly to the charity. Nike will match the number of shoes donated at the event and UNDFTD will bestow a pair of new slides to the dude who shows up looking best in his old lady’s pants. And for you shopaholics, UNDFTD will be dropping an unstoppable “Solid Gold” Gents collab T-Shirt. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

Hirst goes for the gold…

YBA founding father, Diamond Skull mastermind, “highest paid living artist” record holder, and all-around art gangster DAMIEN HIRST has decided to forgo the formal gallery world and sell his new body of work via auction. Sidestepping longtime gallery rep LARRY GAGOSIAN for London’s SOTHEBY’S auction house, the 43-year-old Turner prizewinning artist intends to open his work up to set some new sales records when he puts enough new art to constitute two gallery shows on the block in a two-day auction in London on September 15 and 16. The centerpiece of this sale, titled “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever,” is his new masterwork, “The Golden Calf,” a monumental sculpture of a bull submerged in formaldehyde inside a gold-plated stainless steel and glass box. The animal’s head is crowned by a solid gold disc, its hooves and horns are cast in gold, and the piece is expected to fetch at least £12 million. When asked why he decided to open his new art to an international auction market, Hirst stated simply, “the world’s changing.” Larry Gagosian has already declared that he’ll be front-and-center at the sale bidding among the faithful. It’s Damien’s world, we just live in it…

Hirst & the bull that laid the golden cage…

Closing shop this weekend at London’s venerable ELMS LESTERS PAINTING ROOMS is a fantastic show of new work by legendary Dutch graffiti and multimedia artist DELTA (aka: Boris Tellegen). Known for his unique architectural lettering style that transformed conventional tags and mural pieces into multi-dimensional works of art, Delta has been a pioneering force in the international scene since 1983. Expanding on his early street style in this new show, “The New Dutch Master,” Tellegen has delved into a variety of media including paintings, sculptures and 3-D installation pieces. Two screenprints and a new book have been created to accompany this exhibit and all are available online at the gallery site. And, for Delta fans that prefer to wear their allegiances on their sleeves, keep an eye out for the D-Man’s upcoming clothing collab with Stüssy, dropping this fall. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

One iPhone smoothie, coming up!…

Our man TOM DICKSON has been giving us our daily dose of hillbilly fun with his WILL IT BLEND? infomercials for a minute now and we thougth it was time to share our joy. Dickson’s imagination knows no bounds when it comes to the objects he drops into his industrial strength BLENDTEC 2000, including cans of Spam, Bic lighters, glow sticks, marbles, crowbars, and our personal favorite, an iPhone. Now we’re just waiting on pins and needles for the “body parts” edition…

BIC LIGHTER:

EASY CHEESE:

MARBLES:

WEEZER:

The Brooklyn Bridge’s biggest leak to date…

Normally, New York City residents yearning for a glimpse of a waterfall had to head upstate to Niagara. Now the trip is as close as the New York Harbor. As of this morning, four massive waterfalls created by 41-year-old Danish-Icelandic artist OLAFUR ELIASSON went into commission there, churning 35,000 gallons of East River water per minute over their manmade precipices. Following in the footsteps of conceptual art grandstander Christo who draped Central Park in yellow fabric in 2005, Eliasson sought to create an elaborate spectacle with the installation, officially titled “New York City Waterfalls,” and in the eyes of NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, it’s bound to be a cash cow: “We estimate that the project will generate more than $55 million in economic activity for our city,” he announced this morning at the falls’ dedication ceremony. At a cost of $15.5 million (the majority of funds came from private donors, the city ponied up $2 million), that’s not a bad return on investment if ol’ Bloomie is correct in his estimation that “tens of thousands” of tourists will flock to the city to get a glimpse of Eliasson’s aesthetically spare constructions (water’s always beautiful, but the mechanisms resemble little more than elaborate scaffolding).

The waterfalls are at Pier 35 in Manhattan, near South and Rutgers Streets north of the Manhattan Bridge; at the Brooklyn tower of the Brooklyn Bridge; Piers 4 and 5 in Brooklyn, west of the Brooklyn Heights Promenade; and on the north shore of Governors Island. They will be turned on every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., except on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when they will be activated at 9 a.m. After sunset, the waterfalls will be lighted by light-emitting diodes. To facilitate viewing, a temporary park has been specially created on Pier 1 (the site of the future Brooklyn Bridge Park). In a nod to current gas prices, the city’s Department of Transportation, in collaboration with the Public Art Fund, has also created a bike route around the project.

For the definitive story, check out the NYTimes, or NY Mag…

The man in the water…

In town for his ROUGE STATUS opening in Venice last weekend, London bad boy wall banger INSA did a little Hollywood swingin and dropped in on BARRACUDA  for a little rooftop renovation, adding his trademark high-heels to the sunset skyline in the process. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

“Devirock”: 6″ of bronzed rock ‘n’ roll fury… 

Saving us from the deathly boring world of modern art toys (thanx for nothin’, Kid Robot) this month is one of our favorite designers, Hong Kong’s ERIC SO, who has transformed Japanese streetwear house DEVILOCK’s signature PALMBOY character into a thing of beauty. Normally, ol’ Palmie’s intrinsically boring design leaves us dry, but after Mr So added his magic touch, and a bit of rock action, the pedestrian character was transformed  into “Devirock,” who now stands proud in his 6″ of bronzed, leather-jacketed fury. Only 80 are being made and distributed in Asia so keep your eyes on eBay and start saving your pennies now cuz these guys are gonna get xpensive. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »