Eastern District: Made in Brooklyn

by Doug Black

Adopting its name from the governmental region that includes Williamsburg, Greenpoint and East New York, Eastern District is Bushwick's latest art gallery and exhibition space, which typifies the New York art world's shifting focus. After an abbreviated Fashion Week photo show, the gallery is holding its grand opening tomorrow with "Made in Brooklyn," a exhibition from Marvel comic artist Juan Doe. Noted for illustrating the likes of Spiderman and the Fantastic Four, the show finds inspiration in "superheroes, giant-bio-luminescent sea monsters and hydroponic chambers of restituted imaginations."

In practice, this results in a unique amalgam of painting and narrative. Doe expands from the miniature panels of the comic world to tell stories depicted with paint and enamel on over-sized canvases. He uses everything from conceptual wordplay, messianic portraiture and wife-abusing robots—along with the obligatory comic book cover or two—to express his conflicted worldview.

"Made in Brooklyn" will run through 22 March 2009 and will be followed by an exhibit on current news-maker, Poster Boy.

Made in Brooklyn
27 February-22 March 2009
Eastern District
43 Bogart Street
Brooklyn, NY 11206 map
tel. +1 718 628 0400

Casey Curran: Oceania

by Karen Day

Oceania is a look at Seattle-based artist Casey Curran's kinetic works. Using old wires and at times even older books, Curran skillfully creates a "truth-seeming version of reality" full of insects and under water creatures.

Thanks to Gregory for the tip!

Nicola From Bern: Coat Hanger

by Karen Day

One of the more practical items coming out of the Stockholm Furniture Fair is a new coat hanger and coat hook from Nicola From Bern. The powder-coated steel hanger works with any conventional towel rails and can be used as a hanger or flipped over and turned into a hook. This double function brings along a flexible use of the object—it can be used as a wardrobe even in narrow doorways.

via MoCo Loco

Jenny Wicks: Root Ginger

by Karen Day

Are redheads actually fiery? Are they a dying breed? Photographer Jenny Wicks answers these questions and more with her in-depth examination of red hair's history, what having ginger hair means in society and how it biologically occurs.

Beginning with a personal curiosity, Wicks' survey expanded into a full-on investigation. Along with her collection of photographs of 70 stunning redheads, she wrote a corresponding book that provides insight into the myths about gingers and includes the photographs from the exhibition and a 20 minute film. All of the proceeds from the various mediums go to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, and the book is available for purchase from Amazon UK.

Root Ginger: A Study of Red Hair
Through 8 March 2009
Idea Generation Gallery
11 Chance Street
London, E2 7JB map
tel. +44 (0)20 7749 6850

Graphic Designer Andy Gilmore

by Lost At E Minor

If I stare long enough at Andy Gilmore's kaleidoscopic designs, it's like I'm being transported into a vortex, the colorful, swirling patterns colliding to form off-kilter shapes like small planets bouncing around some condensed parallel universe.