Jimenez Lai

by Josh Rubin

A simple description of Jimenez Lai's work is difficult. Taking architectural plans and renderings, the Ohio-based artist brings them into the world of comics, drawings and models in two- and three-dimensions. The juxtaposition exposes the absurdity of CAD in comics and comics in CAD. (Click image for detail.)

This isn't the first time Jimenez Lai has been written up but now he's breaking through with an exhibition at Los Angeles' Junc Gallery.

Teaming up with Materials & Applications, a research center that promotes the new and underutilized (good) ideas for landscape, architecture and art, Lai's installation, "Phalanstery Module" will open in April in M&A's outdoor exhibition space. (Check out our video on M&A for more info on what they do there.)

Jimenez Lai
Opening Reception: 8 March 2008, 7-10pm
8-26 March 2008
Junc Gallery
4017 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90029 map
tel. +1 213 814 2640

Harrisons

by Lost At E Minor

A crackling assault of guitars and drums, lyrics that bristle with indignation. Sheffield's Harrisons are for our era what The Clash were for theirs: a voice of rebellion, masked in four minute pop gems. We spoke recently to drummer Mark White.

Aside from Harrisons and Joe Cocker, what else should we know about the creative scene in Sheffield?
The best band from Sheffield by far was Pulp. We grew up on them. There's not really any good music in Sheffield at the minute. I personally don't even think there was a year or two ago. There's a good artist called Pete McKee who does retro cartoon pictures. I've seen a Wednesday-United one that I'm going to buy.

You guys burst into our ears in 2005, but it took an eternity for the debut album to come out. Why the delay?
You've probably got about as much idea as I have about that. We recorded it about a year ago, and due to a lot of pissing about with Sony [the album was originally licensed through Sony], it only came out now.

The forum on your website is a good gauge of how immersed your fans are in your music. How regularly do you guys dip into the forum and how passionate in general do you find Harrison fans are during the live sets you play around the country?
I don't tend to look at our forum and things like that that much. Get too full of yourself or depressed at the same time if I did. The most passionate fans are always the Sheffield crowd, being a local band.

Harrisons' debut album, No Fighting In The War Room, is out now on Melodic through Inertia.

Nature Wallpaper

by Doug Black

Swedish designer Camilla Diedrich aims to add uniquely natural elements into her mass-produced products. Her goal for Nature Wallpaper was to inject an intrinsic luminance using a single color. Or as she succinctly explains, "I have been searching for light without light."

Her efforts resulted in repeating patterns of vaguely organic forms, which are cast in vibrant hues and resemble some sort of luminous deep-sea invertebrate. Nature Wallpaper comes in a four different color options, which you can order at her online store.

More Wants For Sale

by Mike Giles

New York artists Christine Santora and Justin Gignac are at it again, launching another series on their “Wants For Sale” website. Justin dropped us a line with a few teaser images from their new collection launching today at noon, stating “We're pretty excited because we think these are the best paintings yet. We have "To Get Into MoMA" (pictured on right) which is the price of a couples membership, "Custom Adidas" from the adidas store on Wooster, and our free one this time is "The New Number to Milk & Honey." Whoever sends us the new phone number to Milk & Honey in New York gets the painting.

There will be 12 new paintings in all” not all wants are material though “We're also starting to move into a direction of more experiential wants. It's fun painting wants that aren't just "stuff". One of the paintings in this batch is called "Drinks On Us" (pictured below) for $500. When it sells we're talking all of our friends out for a night of drinks. As the project continues we hope to be able to push these more and more.” Get yourself some killer art with a great story behind it from their site.

Also on Cool Hunting: Needs For Sale.

Arlene Gottfried: Sometimes Overwhelming

by Doug Black

These days, there's no shortage of people glorifying the rougher New York City of yesteryear. But if anyone needs proof of the grit and grime with a dash of wit, there's "Sometimes Overwhelming", the third book by photographer Arlene Gottfried. The native New Yorker documents her hometown in the 1970s and '80s, an era before rising prices and relative security forced out the more colorful citizenry. She captures these locals in their elemental form: at parades, city beaches, nightclubs, and anywhere people would drop their guards. Some might look at these images with a whiff of nostalgia, but others will be glad that it's confined to a book.

"Sometimes Overwhelming" is available from the powerHouse Books website or Amazon. You can peruse a few more photographs after the jump.