Cool Hunting

Chris Stain: Out on the Roof Counting Pigeons
by Ariston Anderson In Chris Stain's first solo show, he brings a gritty New York rooftop to L.A.'s Carmichael Gallery, complete with a live pigeon coop. The Baltimore native builds his vision of inner city life through large-scale stencil installation as well as found objects. Stain comments, "my work explores the emotional and physical struggle of growing up in an urban environment. Through hand-cut stencils...

Banksy's Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill Video
For something as bizarrely inventive as Banksy's current installation of animatronic food, we couldn't conceive of a better video than this one that Notcot commissioned from CH pal Seth Brau. The piece is a montage of the various vignettes—hot dogs in love, chicken nuggets sipping water—cut to a twangy country soundtrack which was inspired by the music that's actually playing at the gallery. Seth's...

Cool Hunting Video Presents: Electric Windows
Bringing together 24 street artists from all over the world, Electric Windows is a semi-permanent installation of large-scale work exhibited on the exterior windows of a 19th century blanket factory in Beacon, NY. We traveled to the small town earlier this year to meet some of the artists and watch them make "urban art" in a not-so-urban setting. We also interview one of the...

Chris Rubino: The Center of Something
by Scott Lachut In its current state, Times Square's clash between fading authenticity and idealized homogeneity make it the perfect setting for artist Chris Rubino's "limited tourist attraction" titled “The Center of Something," showing now through 15 June 2008 at the Chashama Gallery. Circa 1990, Times Square was a den of iniquity and vice, boasting a porn shop on every corner and a "squeegee man"...