Paint

by Ami Kealoha

Following the virally renowned bouncy ball ad (and subsequent Paint," Sony's latest Bravia spot, is an orgasmic choreography of rainbow-colored paint explosions. Directed by Jonathan Glazer, who's known for his music videos, the piece took 10 days and 250 people to film and five days and 60 people to clean up.

via Josh Spear

Dyson Root 6

by Ami Kealoha

Using the same patented "cyclone" technology that made Dyson upright vacuums famous, the new Dyson Root 6 ($150) is a handheld tool that never looses suction, cleaning better and more hygienically by trapping dirt more effectively. With its molded plastic body—looking something like a creature-trapping gun from the prop department of Alien—it's ergonomic and easy to use, successfully negotiating the narrowest of nooks and hard-to-reach corners.

In CH's tests, we were impressed by the Root's ability to clean the long hair of a sheepskin rug, the dust chamber's convenient design (a latch releases a flap to empty directly over a garbage can), and the fun of seeing the dirt whirl around in the clear plastic bin. Other features include LED indicator lights, washable filters that never need replacing, a brush tool (with a lint extension) and a separate narrow crevice accessory. Though at times we wished for an attached light to see what we were cleaning and the battery's charge didn't last quite as little long as we expected (its lithium ion battery does charge up to three times faster than others), overall it's an ideal device for cars, small rooms and spills where large vacuums would be inconvenient and overkill.

Christian Jankowski: Us and Them

by Letizia Rossi

Inspired by juxtapositions of different worlds and subcultures, Christian Jankowski's conceptual work often involves non-artists such as televangelists, psychics, children, and therapists. An extension of Jankowski's previous experiments with commercial filmmaking conventions, "Us and Them," a seasonally-appropriate exhibit of new works including videos, film, photography and sculpture, explores the horror film genre "suggesting how cinematic visions of monstrosity and violence can also communicate broader notions of transformation, revenge, and redemption." Angels of Revenge (2006), a video and photography series, spotlights contestants from a costume contest at a horror film conference who were invited by Jankowski to his makeshift film studio in a hotel conference room and asked to write a letter to the person in their lives who had most betrayed, harmed, or offended them. Inspired by the production of a straight-to-DVD werewolf film, Lycan Theorized (2006), is a video and sculpture piece and his 16mm silent film, Playing Frankenstein (2006), features Jankowski challenging a Frankenstein impersonator to a game of chess.

"Us and Them"
Opening reception: 21 October 2006, 6-8pm
21 October 2006-9 December 2006
The Kitchen
512 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011 map
tel. 01 212 255 5793

Juliet Rose

by Leonora Oppenheim

The spare key, a couple of nails, ring pulls from drink cans, safety pins and more safety pins… For most, all those odd bits and pieces that gather in bowls and boxes and on tabletops are just the seemingly insignificant but endless debris of everyday life. For British artist Juliet Rose, clutter is the subject of her strikingly graphic paintings. Carefully arranging these inane objects—hairclips, combs, safety pins, ring pulls, keys, forks, nails—on the canvas she creates patterns that seem both familiar and abstract. The contrast between the textured image and the smooth lacquered surface of the paintings only serves to make the objects more mysterious and distant. Juliet describes her work as "concerned with the mundane manufactured debris of what it is to be human." She explains, "I use objects that may easily be left behind or abandoned, but can equally become totems of emotional significance. Inspiration comes from testimonies, photographs and archival material from refugees, people who have had to leave their homes behind. These objects in some small way explain our individual 'human-ness' as well as our part in a larger society, the cement of our routine existence." You can see Juliet's surprisingly powerful and intimate work at the Wimbledon Open Studios in London, from 30 November 2006-3 December 2006 and she will be showing at Art Miami in the U.S. from 5-8 January 2007. See more images here.

American Look (1958)

by Josh Rubin

This 1958 short film, sponsored at the time by Chevrolet, was a tribute to men and women who design in America. It offers an extensive glimpse of architecture, interiors, furniture, product and technology that is iconic 1950s. Watch here and see how much has changed and how much has stayed the same.

Thanks, Greg.

Maps of War

by Evan Orensten

Sail through 5,000 years of middle east political history in 90 seconds with easily digestible animated maps. Maps of War, albeit on the reductive side, provides an informative pictorial narrative surrounding the history of conflict in the Middle East.