The Good, The Bad & The Queen

by SummerSeventySix

As I write, Britain is recovering from being battered by the strongest storm in years, while six more soldiers have been injured in Iraq. The war and global warming seem to dominate the news right now, and they're also the defining themes of The Good, The Bad & The Queen. It's the first notable British release of the year from arguably the most prolifically successful British musician of recent years. That's not to say that Damon Albarn hasn't once again roped in some decent support, including his multi-tasking Gorillaz cohort Danger Mouse and The Clash bassist Paul Simonon.

Dealing with prickly, political issues is inevitably going to influence the sound—see Thom Yorke's The Eraser—yet Albarn has a knack of marrying world-weary lyrics and a wistful melody, with a deft lightness of touch. Foreboding opener "History Song" echoes the shuffling skank of The Specials' "Ghost Town," while the skittish percussion of Afrobeat legend Tony Allen, as evidenced on single "Herculean," gives the record its slightly nervy, uneasy feeling. Waltzing "80s Life" and "Green Fields" both go some way to backing up the assertion that The Good, The Bad & The Queen is the natural successor to Blur's 90s high point, Parklife. Both records are pin-sharp depictions of the London milieu, albeit more than a decade apart.

The Good, The Bad & The Queen is released in the U.K. today, 22 January 2007, and in the U.S. tomorrow.

Marc Newson in NYC

by Ami Kealoha

On the heels of his Design Miami 2006 "Designer of the Year" win last month, Marc Newson hits New York with two high profile gallery shows that both open this Thursday, 25 January 2007. At Gagosian, Newson shows a collection of new limited edition works inspired by materials, reinvented with radically unconventional techniques and forms. Each piece is made out of a single, seamless piece from various materials, a concept most dramatically illustrated by a group of Carrara marble furniture that includes the stunning organic shapes of the Voronoi Shelf and the flowing lines of the Extruded Chair (both pictured right).

Helping to inaugurate their new showroom and gallery (which is right across the street from Gagosian), high-end furniture dealers Sebastian and Barquet will be showing iconic pieces from Newson's ouevre, like his renowned aluminum Prototype Lockheed Lounge. The piece (pictured left) made history last year for fetching the highest price ever paid at auction for the work of a living designer. Sebastian and Barquet will also show other standouts from their discerning permanent collection of 20th century design—they specialize in prototypes, one-offs and other era or designer-defining pieces— in their new space designed by Mexican architect Enrique Norten.

25 January-3 March 2007
Opening Reception: 25 January 2007, 6-8pm
Marc Newson
Gagosian Gallery
555 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011 map
Tel. + 01 212 741 1111

25 January-mid-March 2007
Gallery Opening Celebration: 25 January 2007, 6-8pm
Sebastian and Barquet Gallery
544 West 24th Street map
New York, NY 10011 map

Showroom Reception: 25 January 2007, 8–10pm
Sebastian and Barquet Showroom
601 W. 26th Street, Suite 300
New York, NY 10001 map
tel: + 01 212 488 2245

Metromint's New Twists

by Evan Orensten

When we first tasted Metromint we were impressed with its new take on flavored water.

Following the success of their original Peppermint, they added Spearmint, and today introduced two new flavors—Lemonmint (our favorite) and Orangement. Like the original, nicely balanced flavors of mint and lemon or mint and orange are all that is added to the pure water—you won't find any sweeteners or other chemicals—making it a perfect tonic for the gym or an alternative to less healthy beverage options.

Metromint is widely available. Check out their site for retailers or to order online. A 500 ml. bottle retails for around $2.

Waste & The Natural World

by Leonora Oppenheim

After discovering Your Gallery, Charles Saatchi’s online platform for artists, we are interested to see how this rapidly growing resource is being tapped for exhibitions. Last week a group show called "Waste & The Natural World" opened in central London, featuring four international artists who all address environmental issues in their work and were hand-picked from the Your Gallery site. Curated by Rebecca Wilson from the Saatchi Gallery and Isabella Macpherson, director of arts programming at Adventure Ecology, the show is being held at The Gallery @ Adventure Ecology HQ, which is part of a larger organization founded to build public awareness about the environment. (Adventure Ecology emerged last year with a video game designed as a fun educational tool.)

The work exhibited in Waste & The Natural World includes painting, sculpture, photography and video. American artist Randy Wray (pictured right) "uses the debris leftover from his sculptures, paintings and discarded drawings to create new collages that explore contradictory impulses and ideas." Claire Morgan (pictured left), from Northern Ireland, says of her work, "I use materials that display signs of excess or decay, and find myself contemplating issues relating to the 'residues' that we as a society leave on the earth."

Further exhibitions at The Gallery will show work created by artists who are embarking on Adventure Ecology field missions to some of the world's most "environmentally trashed regions." The first mission, code name: Toxico, is in Ecuador where artist Gabriel Orozco, photographers Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin and film maker Dustin Lynn will record their findings.

Waste & The Natural World
19 January-1 March 2007
The Gallery @ Adventure Ecology
125 Charing Cross Road
London WC2H OEW
tel. +44 (0) 20 7758 4717

Litmus Journal

by Lost At E Minor

The mysterious Melbourne-based Litmus Journal has been in bookstores for a while now—from Australia to London—starting with Litmus Minus Three and building momentum through Minus Two, Minus One and Zero to the inevitable Issue One, currently on sale. Each issue is themed and publishes work by an expanding community of emerging writers, artists, illustrators and photographers. Recently the founders launched Litmusphere, an "online magazine fashioned by the faithful" released in weekly installments online.

Tra Selhtrow

by Tim Yu

Grant Barnhart, the artist also known as Tra Selhtrow, put up some new limited edition prints at Duistudio yesterday. His compositions offer distorted narratives inhabited by lucid animals, humans and often a cross between the two. His latest body of work deals with wars in general and takes historical images/icons and places them into one scene. He comments, "Living in a western culture bombarded with images of the Middle East and happenings around the world I wonder when honor and theatrics stopped playing a role in world triumph. Armor turned into fatigues and God turned from beasts and monsters into man." Click on images above for an enlarged view.

All new prints are well priced at $20-$70 and available at Duistudio.