CH at The Brooklyn Flea Part 2

by Karen Day

We're less then 24 hours away from our debut at the Brooklyn Flea and we're super excited about how it's shaping up. We've have a few new items to share since our last post that we thought you might also enjoy.

Warm weather is on the horizon but fluctuating temperatures still leave us reaching for our Freehands, those awesome gloves that keep your fingers warm while you're using your phone or other gadget.

Buy a colorful Baggu bag to carry home all your bargains and grab an adorable penguin for the kid in your life, even if that happens to just be you.

Decorate yourself and your walls with these two amazing examples of metal-working. From Rogelio we have distinct key necklaces that are sure to become a staple item hanging round your nape. Simon Arizpe's Milagro Fish will have you hooked at first sight, luckily you can take one home with you.

We hope to see you there!

CH at the Brooklyn Flea
14-15 March 2009, 11am-6pm
76 Front Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201 map
+1 718 935 1052‎

Hue Are You

by Karen Day

Bringing about a sense of community among American designers, the American Design Club is highlighting their talented collective with their third exhibition, "Hue Are You," a show revolving around the theme of color in contemporary design.

Located at the store, shop, gallery and mecca The Future Perfect in Brooklyn, the exhibit will also be an opportunity to purchase some of the furniture, lighting, jewelry and home goods from the display, which will feature the designs of Kiel Mead, Kyle Cunniff, Peter Pracilio, Henry Julier and more, all of whom used color as the driving force behind each design. The AmDC hopes to remind Americans of what design already is and can be here in the States by celebrating our existing base of talent with this exhibit.

If you would like to attend the opening reception on 20 March 2009 from 6-9pm, please RSVP to info [at] americandesignclub [dot] com.

Hue Are You
20 March-30 April 2009
The Future Perfect
115 North 6th Street
Brooklyn NY 11211 map
tel.+1 718 599 6278

PhoneSuit MiLi Power Pack

by Josh Rubin

For anyone who uses their iPhone to its fullest capabilities, you know that while the features are fruitful, the battery life span is not. PhoneSuit offers extended use time without extending the phone's size, with their sleek MiLi Power Pack.

We've been testing ours out and found quite a few useful components making it a worthy contender in a market that includes the Mophie and Fastmac's iV. One of the more convenient aspects is that the power pack charges quickly, and the pass through charging attribute makes it easy to charge both the MiLi and iPhone at the same time. The internal smart chip also allows for priority power consumption, with the iPhone source used last to ensure the iPhone battery has the longest charge possible.

PhoneSuit also made a smart decision to make one device for both the older and 3G versions of the iPhone, both of them fitting seamlessly in the power pack.

The MiLi Power Pack is available online for $80.

Sculptor Emily Valentine Bullock

by Karen Day

Sydney-based Emily Valentine Bullock sculpts, primarily using feathers, which she collects from birds killed by cars and cats, and from people's dead pets. More recently, she bought a trapping and killing machine to collect feathers from Australia’s registered pest, the Indian Mynah. From these oddly sourced materials, she creates very odd, but rather beautiful sculptures. Most of these are strange hybrid creatures—dogs with wings and bird-headed dolls. She also makes beaded and feathered brooches and bangles which can be purchased directly from her studio.

What I love most about Bullock's works is the way she juxtaposes the morbid with the appealing. Her hybrids are like taxidermied critters from a fantasy land, offsetting any ghoulishness with her use of color and the fact that the sculptures are just so damn cute.

Dietrich Wegner at Pulse

by CH Contributor

by Kelsey Keith

Last week we were taken aback at NYC's Pulse Art Fair by artist Dietrich Wegner's "Playhouse," an installation shaped like a mushroom cloud and built like a tree fort covered in swaths of cotton. A study in contradiction, "Playhouse" mingled with tattooed babies and dotted light paintings in Chicago gallerist Carrie Secrist Gallery's booth.

Wegner creates "images that are safe and unsettling, abject and beautiful... all in an effort to explore our varied states of contentment and security." His sculpture, downsized from its original height of 20 feet, was a welcome respite despite its nuclear connotations. Poly-fill and wool form a tactile shell for the interior space of the playhouse, a dreamy and cocoon-like pod on a spiraling base.

Ross Jones: New Works

by Karen Day

Political artist Ross Jones' exploratory drawings—soon to be on display at London's William Angel Gallery—take a look at Britain's current societal problems. By distilling a complicated political issue into one of its constituent parts, Jones looks at our contemporary climate without portraying one major viewpoint in each of his stark, large-scale renderings. (Click on images for larger versions.)

While he may not dictate a singular argument, Jones' concerns are clear. Titles such as "Surgical Strike, Agricultural Decline" and "Refuge" match the sober drawings, pulling you in with their simple grandeur. For instance, "Suburb" (pictured below) questions our ease of comfort in ignoring issues that we are physically removed from. Having only been in the art scene since 2005, Jones has won a considerable amount of awards for his work, symbolizing how talented he is at expressing such relevant topics.

View more photos after the jump

New Works
20 March-19 April 2009
William Angel Gallery
1 Barry Parade
London SE22 0JA map
tel. +44 7956 329 675