Cool Hunting

"I overdosed on art, psycho-analytic theory and philosophy, and that clogged up my creativity," says London-based Gordon Cheung of his artistic state in 2001 after graduating from the Royal College of Art. A six-week residency in Pakistan in 2003 changed all that. "The combination of being away, seeing some amazingly kitsch decorated trucks, and meeting some very interesting artists, had a huge impact on me," he says. Cheung's art hints at an apocalyptic future, informed by science-fiction writers like JG Ballard, Philip K. Dick, David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick. Using spray paint, oil, acrylic, pastels, stock listings and ink, Cheung's futuristic landscapes are dramatic collisions of the virtual world and reality. Cheung has the third eye, the ability to see what lies ahead. Though, unfortunately, not just now. "My soothsayer hat is at the dry cleaners," he says, "so I am bereft of the abilities to foretell the future!"