Cool Hunting

Ruth Marshall
The highlight from Scope was undeniably Ruth Marshall and her acumen for craft-work combined with a nutty sense of humor. When the Australian born artist isn't at her day job sculpting exhibits at the Bronx Zoo, she's still committed to her love and fascination for animals. Presented by Dam, Stuhltrager, these knitted animal pelts are a delightful comment on both the trophy and the...

Afke Golsteijn
Dutch artist Afke Golsteijn isn't the first to work with dead animals as her medium, but none quite achieve the same sweetly creepy aesthetic that comes from her joining of taxidermy and finely wrought details. Equal parts Edgar Allan Poe, Grimm's Fairytales (she calls them "Contemporary Fairytales"), and a more feminine David Altmejd, Golsteijn's work at times reads like a literalized metaphor, such as...

Tamara Kostianovsky: Actus Reus
"Actus Reus" is the debut solo exhibition of Tamara Kostianovsky, an Israeli artist raised in Argentina and currently living in Brooklyn. The show consists of life-sized animal carcasses painstakingly reconstructed using second-hand clothing, which are all former pieces from the artist's actual wardrobe. The patchwork constructions adopt a remarkably grotesque quality, hanging from meat hooks in an antiseptic gallery space. The exhibition's Latin title...

Joel Dugan: Ocea
This isn't the first time that Brooklyn-based artist Joel Dugan has been featured on Cool Hunting. In 2005, his nautically themed octopus tees were being sold to raise money for arts education for underprivileged schoolchildren. Dugan continues to be produce, elaborating and improving on the timeless maritime theme in what is his solo debut in the port city of San Francisco where the Iowa-born...

Angela Singer
Those not acquainted with New Zealand-based artist and animal rights activist Angela Singer will soon, after a few glances, see what they've been missing. While a strident activist against all forms of animal cruelty—including vivisection—much of her recent artwork is made from discarded hunting trophies and other taxidermy that strives to illuminate human exploitive tendencies of the rest of the animal kingdom. It's a chilling...

The Sims: In the Hands of Artists
The world's best-selling computer game, The Sims, is about to experience a new level of exploration with "In The Hands of Artists," an exhibition that will explore the interactive nature of the game. Featuring work from the Communication Design, Design and Technology and Illustration programs of the Parsons New School for Design, it will run at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York from...