Cool Hunting
| 05 January 2007view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Catharine Clark Gallery Photo Exhibit
by Tim Yu
Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco started 2007 with a photo exhibit that opened yesterday, featuring the works of Aaron Plant (U.S), Ruud van Empel (The Netherlands), Ellen Kooi (The Netherlands), and Carlos and Jason Sanchez (Canada). All of the artists share an affinity for subverted imagery of childhood, though their approaches vary wildly. The exhibit makes for a somewhat eerie but fascinating compilation of photos. We especially like Ruud Van Empel's color saturated portraits of children (pictured above center). The exhibit closes on 27 January 2007.
See more photos from the exhibit at Catharine Clark Gallery.
Project Jenny, Project Jan
by Ami Kealoha
Brooklyn-based duo Project Jenny, Project Jan (PJPJ), like many great musical partnerships, is an opposites-attract kind of pairing. Vocalist Jeremy Haines spits lyrics with frenetic energy that fluidly moves from a David Byrne deadpan style to a dancehall-inflected growl. Over Sammy Rubin's crunchy, bass-heavy beats with sampled tablas, cow bells and big band horns the eclectic result is the kind of music that's irresistibly danceable and always brings the party.
Like another young Brooklyn band that's often compared to the Talking Heads, PJPJ's lyrics often reference the experience of living in New York City—though in this case the mix unfortunately is a little too clean to obscure some slightly juvenile tendencies. What they lack in sophistication, they make up with giddy nonsense; a chorus of "blah blah blahs" anchors the track called "Negative."
If you're in the New York area, you can catch PJPJ at Joe's Pub on 31 January 2007 as part of a show called Sxip's Hour of Charm starting at 7:30pm. Also look out for a remix of a track called "Present" by another NYC band called Pela. Their debut EP is available for purchase from their site.
Bar Code Tattoos
by Ami Kealoha
Today Needled traces barcode tattoos back to their heyday in the 90's when they were common protests of consumer culture. In this time of more restraint (and more consumerism?), the concept is available in temporary form, allowing you to mark yourself with barcodes that read SLAVE, FOR SALE and SCAN ME. Not only are they an impermanent and painless way to make a bold statement, but, like Peter Coffin's famed culture jamming stickers, the codes are actually scannable if you care to cause some trouble at a local retailer.
Stoked Art Auction
by Tim Yu
Stoked Mentoring has partnered with the Milk Gallery in Manhattan for a benefit art auction on Saturday,13 January 2007, at 6pm. Stoked is a non-profit organization that brings together at-risk youth and successful adults to learn sports like surfing, skating or snowboarding. Through action sports, mentoring, and life coaching Stoked hopes to develop “Successful Teens with Opportunity , Knowledge, Experience and Determination.” Sal Masekela, host of ESPN’s X Games, and urban fashion mogul, Marc Ecko, will be co-chairing the event. The live portion of the auction begins promptly at 8pm, but we advise getting there plenty early to pick out your piece(s), drink some cocktails and eat hors d’oeuvres. Proceeds from the benefit will be used to support Stoked programming in 2007 in New York and Los Angeles.
Featured artists include; Ghada Amer, Cory Arcangel, Art Brewer, Satch Hoyt, Daniel LaRue Johnson, Gina Magid, Wynn Miller, Kenneth Noland, Dennis Oppenheim, Steve Powers, William Quigley, Julian Schnabel, Swoon, Spencer Tunick, William Wegman, Eric White, and several other contemporary greats. You can view more artwork and buy tickets at Stoked.
Cool Hunting Video Presents: From the Archive: The CES Experience
by Cool Hunting Video
As I get ready to head to the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas I have to brace myself for the frenetic montage of sights and sounds that one can not avoid when attending the world's largest trade show. This week's CH Video is pulled from the archive for a look at last year's bonanza.
