Richard Dupont

by Ami Kealoha

For our 99th episode, we visit the Manhattan studio of Richard Dupont who makes arresting figurative work. His sculptures initially caught our eye when they made an appearance in our very first video at Art Basel and now Dupont's busy with his large-scale installation, "Terminal Stage," due to open at the Lever House next month. In this video he unmolds one of his distorted replicas of his body that he made using military scans, walking us through his process and some of the ideas that inform his work.

Terminal Stage
Opening Reception: 13 March 2008, 6-8pm
13 March-3 May 2008
Lever House
390 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022 map

Fish Reflexology Spa

by Tim Yu

There are a few places in the world, mostly in Asia, that use Doctor Fish to help treat dermatological disorders like Psoriasis. The fish eat affected and dead areas of the skin leaving the healthy parts alone. More recently a few spas started touting this service as a means to clean dead skin from your body.

Andrew Bunney of Gimme 5 recently visited the Fish Reflexology Spa on Sentosa Island off the southern coast of Singapore and got to experience hundreds of tiny fish nibbling the dead skin off his feet. He comments, "the sensation feels somewhere between tickling and short electric shocks, and as time goes on, the shocks become harder. By the end your feet will be very smooth and relaxed." It's a truly symbiotic relationship.

A 40-minute session at Fish Reflexology costs $35. Check out a video of a feeding on YouTube.

Frank Chimero: The States

by Letizia Rossi

Chicago-based graphic gesigner and iIllustrator Frank Chimero's ongoing series of illustrations that playfully examine the shapes of the American states is a fun experiment in reimagining invented shapes. Inspired by a remark about how California looks like a snuffed out cigarette, Chimero decided to create illustrations assigning inanimate objects to the other 49 states. Oklahoma is a towel rack with "his" and "hers" towels; Kansas is a pair of sneakers. Boxy Wyoming is represented as a television, while Texas is a Western Shirt drying on a clothes line.

Chimero also recently created a poster for the So-Cal Fire Poster Project to raise funds for victims of the wildfires. On his blog, By So and So, he writes about the artists and designers that inspire him.

via It's Nice That.

Timbuk2 Covert Messenger Bag

by Josh Rubin

With the new Covert model, Timbuk2 expands on their classic three-panel messenger design with a few interesting twists. Namely, the fabric appears normal in daylight but it's specially engineered to be amazingly reflective in the dark, making wearers perfectly visible and, curiously, not very covert. (Click image to see the fabric in detail.)

With a modified design, the San Francisco-based company appeals to bike messengers, as well as to the average Joe who just wants to carry a bunch of stuff around. The Covert satisfies both groups by retaining the extra-heavy-duty stitching, waterproof lining and abundant organization space of their other bags, while adding a couple safety features specifically for cyclists and other creatures of the night. In addition the the glow-in-the-dark material, the exterior features an attachment loop for a safety flasher.

Though it's not clear on their site (another model called Covert only has a center panel of the material), you can pick it up starting at $110 from Timbuk2.

Swoon: Drown Your Boats

by Wendy Dembo

Swoon's first Los Angeles solo exhibition, "Drown Your Boats" opens tomorrow, 16 February 2008 at New Image Art. Partially inspired by Angela Carter's collection of short stories "Burning Your Boats," which reinterprets traditional tales and twists the mundane, you can see the connection as Swoon work combines glimpses of everyday life, legends and variations on mythic themes in her own graceful style.

Over the last several years Swoon has been covering the doorways and walls of the streets of New York and other cities with her delightfully detailed wheat-paste cutouts that, over time, become part of the cityscape. Swoon says, her images “are an x-ray of the person and the place where they live and the things that have seen in a day, if there is a way to record that.” She has images of kids playing, pigeons flying, people talking all done in her lyrical style. One of the highlights of the show is an image of a lady (it could be a self-portrait), who has a spine made out of fish bones that turns into a mermaid’s tail and hair that conceals skulls. As with most of Swoon’s work, looking closely rewards the viewer with hidden details. (Click images for larger sizes and see more after the jump.)

The centerpiece of the show is a modified canoe that will eventually become part of an installation at Deitch Projects this fall. The canoe will be part of the flotilla that will leave from Troy, NY during the month of August and arrive in NYC on 7 September 2008. Over the last few years, Swoon has been part of a group of “boat punks,” who have constructed their own boats, sailing down the Hudson and Mississippi Rivers using discarded building materials, trash and other found objects.

Luckily, it won’t be a scavenger hunt to see her pieces, they will all be on the walls of New Image Art gallery.

Drown Your Boats
Opening Reception: 16 February 2008, 7-10pm
New Image Art
7908 Santa Monica Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90046 map
tel. +1 323 654 2192

Jim Denevan

by Lost At E Minor

Santa Cruz, CA-based artist Jim Denevan makes freehand drawings in sand, laboring up to seven hours and walking for as many as 30 miles to create artwork using no measuring aids whatsoever. (Click images for detail.)

From above, the drawings are abstract patterns. But when looked at from the ground level, they take on a new form, challenging ideas of distance and perspective. Then, heartbreakingly, they get washed away. At least everything is beautifully documented on film first.

Alessi Spring/Summer 2008

by Doug Black

Alessi's upcoming Spring/Summer 2008 product line builds on their reputation for smartly-designed kitchenware. This season, the Italian company employed the talents of a handful of celebrated designers to create some interesting twists on standard fare.

One example is the sleekly egg-shaped “Pop-Up” bottle cap opener, which is work of Milanese designer Giovanni Alessi Anghini. The pressure-operated mechanism removes the bottle cap in one downward motion and an interior magnet holds onto the loose cap for a simple, neat transaction.

Also, Dutch architect Wiel Arets took a break from making buildings to design a kitchen set consisting of corkscrew, salt grinder and pepper mill (titled "screw.it," "salt.it" and "pepper.it," and pictured respectively). They combine a simple function in an eye-catching form that coincides well with Arets' similar-looking "coffee.it" espresso pot.

These products and more will be available in April on the Alessi online store, or at one of Alessi's retail stores.