For anyone working in the area of fine art photography, Bill Hunt is a familiar name. The self-described "champion of photography" has demonstrated an unrivaled passion for the medium as a curator, dealer and collector for almost 40 years. Hunt's photography collection is nearly as infamous within the field...

In his current exhibition, "Neither Camera Nor Companion" at Blanket Gallery in Vancouver, Berlin-based artist Mark Soo has created a series of photographs which thoughtfully and cleverly take the viewer on a journey through photographic history. By drawing on his fascination with how culture and technology have continuously influenced...

The 2012 Palm Springs Photo Festival Portfolio Review is the nation's largest photography review program for both commercial and fine art photographers, and it offers the rare opportunity for photographers to get their work in front of some of the world's most important curators, publishers, agents and art dealers....

Growing up as a boy in Mexico, Gabriel Dawe was forbidden to explore the artistic elements of textiles and embroidery, an area thought to be reserved for women. Nevertheless, the color and intensity of Mexican culture began to appear in his artwork after moving to Montreal in 2000. Now...

Niall McClelland's art may be rooted in the subcultures of graffiti and punk rock, but its roughness has been refined through a well executed artistic process. His highly sought after "Tapestry" series includes large-scale works which are made by folding and wearing down large sheets of paper covered in...

Inspired by the nostalgia of old wooden docks, mills and factories that once thrived in Vancouver, Union Wood Co.'s recently opened shop in the city's developing Downtown-Eastside community is a haven for those who covet vintage, repurposed and industrial objects. After a stint working as a garbage collector, Union...

Artist Scott Hunt turns flea market photographs into modern-day allegories. In his new series of charcoal drawings currently on view at Schroeder, Romero and Shredder Gallery in New York, Hunt presents images that are enigmatic, humorous and occasionally discomforting. The black-and-white figures of "Then Darkness Fell" draw inspiration from...

Dutch artist Scarlett Hooft Graafland chooses to produce work in remote locations where the inhabitants have been forced to adapt to the natural conditions rather than the other way around. For her it is not about being where only very few people have been before, but about discovering authenticity...

Jessica Eaton's series, "Cubes for Albers and LeWitt" may be highly technical and conceptual, but the end result is dizzyingly beautiful. Based on Joseph Albers' focus on the "discrepancy between physical fact and psychic effect," Eaton's images add "multiple exposures and colored lights" to plain, monochromatic cubes to create...

Amidst the staggering amount of work we see at the fairs in Miami, one of the major highlights for me, as a CH contributor and a photographer myself, is to see something that catches my eye in a new way. Whether it's discovering unknown talents, seeing fresh concepts from old...

In conjunction with Vancouver's Interior Design Show West last week, local design firm Burnkit launched Prototypes, showcasing the process of a group of notable Vancouver-based designers. The smartly-curated exhibit, impeccably staged within Burnkit's hip studio, was touted as the first event of its kind in North America to explore...

Bryan Graf uses nature to make photos that are incredibly beautiful without being overly romantic. In his 2010 series "Wildlife Analysis," the artist's photographic studies of the woods and swamps around his native New Jersey using black and white film might sound like an austere treatment of familiar subjects—plants,...

We've long been fans of the tech-savvy collective Troika (check out our 2006 video), and the trio recently inspired us again with their beautiful installation piece "Falling Light" at Design Miami. The Cool Hunting Rough Cut here will give you a little glimpse of the piece (as well as...

Opened by Cok de Rooy and Dick Dankers in 1992, Amsterdam boutique The Frozen Fountain showcases both Dutch and international talents. Interspersed among classic design pieces from well-known design companies such as Vitra and Foscarini, the store features pieces produced specifically for the store by locals and up-and-coming designers...

I discovered the unusually frisbee-shaped Freestyle Magazine in my favorite bookshop, Athenaeum Boekhandel, on a recent trip to Amsterdam. Focused on fashion, design, art, architecture, lifestyle and frisbees, Berlin-based fashion photographer Jason McGlade created Freestyle for those who share his uninhibited spirit. In a world of rectangular publications, not...

For Polaroid lovers, could a magazine hit on anything more naughty and exciting than Tickl, the world’s first erotic Polaroid magazine? Back in the 1970s, before the days of digital photography, the ground-breaking Polaroid camera blazed a trail in bedrooms everywhere by making the instant picture a fixture in...

Justin Gibbens admits to having an "obsessive, unhealthy interest in all things that scamper and poke about in the thickets and undergrowth." Like most obsessive interests that are artfully managed with creativity, Gibbens has been able to channel his work as a contemporary wildlife artist into something magical. Imitating...

Artist Brian Dettmer dissects books to expose the beauty of their anatomy. Using an X-acto knife and tweezers, Dettmer pulls away carefully selected layers of books, revealing a complex view of their internal organization. In this time when the book is no longer the most efficient way to store...

Just a few years out of art school, Eli Bornowsky has been included in shows at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver and the Vancouver Art Gallery, and has had two solo shows in Vancouver’s delightful Blanket Gallery. I recently met up with him at his studio to check...

For most people, the thought of approaching a complete stranger on the street and asking to take their photograph is an incredibly daunting task. It's easy to forget about the uncomfortable meeting when you look at Richard Renaldi's photographs. In his images of strangers he's encountered on the street...

Stacey Steers' animated film "Phantom Canyon" was created from over four thousand handmade collages incorporating the images from Eadweard Muybridge's famous series of photographs from 1887 called "Human and Animal Locomotion." In this film, which is intended to mirror how we all find meaning in our experiences, a curious...

Casey Ruble's first solo show in New York depicts one of the prettiest battle scenes I've ever seen. Each of her colorful and delicate paintings depicts a superficial struggle between warriors, but just below the surface, a deeper struggle between colors, Eastern and Western influences, as well as between...

In the world of contemporary photography where bigger is often better and color rules, sometimes it’s nice to see work that defies all of these conventions, but still manages to make an impact. The current show on view at Yancey Richardson Gallery by Masao Yamamoto, entitled Kawa–Flow, is a...

I will openly confess to being an adamant non-smoker, but even I have admit the sexiness of T.R. Ericsson's latest body of work, "Nicotine Dreams," currently on view at Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York. Inspired by his mother’s lit cigarettes that "discolored the white ceilings and floral wallpaper...

The other day, while on one of my regular gallery tours in Vancouver, I stopped by Atelier Gallery during the installation of their most recent show, a series of collages by Canadian-born, Barcelona-based artist Michael Swaney. I was immediately taken with one of the images leaning up against the...

I recently picked up a copy of issue No.3 of Corduroy Magazine and ended up reading it from cover to cover in one sitting. Named after the idea that a corduroy jacket never goes out of style, the magazine features profiles on up-and-coming and well-known artists, musicians and actors,...

Known for his images of colorful and humor-filled worlds, legendary British photographer Martin Parr recently released a luscious two-volume set entitled "Parrworld: Objects and Postcards." While Parr has been widely recognized for his vast collection of photography books, these particular volumes depict him as an obsessive collector of postcards...

I first fell for David Ryan's work after seeing a couple of small pieces in Mark Moore's booth at Scope New York last year. Now Ryan is back with a solo show in his signature style at Mark Moore Gallery in Santa Monica. (Click images for detail.) Ryan creates...

Perhaps his paintings are not for the faint of heart, but if you're like me and like art with a sinister edge, take a look at the work of French artist Guillaume Bresson. Bresson's sombre paintings are like choreographed scenes of urban violence. Painted in a dark and monochrome...

My search for the perfect swimsuit has been an ongoing project for the better part of the last 10 years, so I was pretty excited to happen upon the newly opened Parke & Ronen boutique during my last visit to Los Angeles. Despite the fact that Parke & Ronen...

Artists Richard Selesnick and Nicholas Kahn have been collaborating to produce multi-layered exhibitions for the past 20 years, and their most recent project Eisbergfreistadt ("iceberg free state") is currently on view at Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York. Eisbergfreistadt is an exhibition of photographs, paintings and objects that chronicle...

For the past several years, Paulson Press in Berkeley, California has been working with some of the art world's biggest (and some of the newest) names to produce incredibly beautiful limited edition intaglio prints. Founders and master print-makers Pamela Paulson and Renee Bott wanted to create an environment in...

On a recent visit to Blue Bottle art gallery and store in Seattle, I picked up an amazing set of View Master reels. Now normally any old set of View Master reels is enough to get me excited, but these actually caused me to jump up an down a...

For years I've been completely in love with Walton Ford's meticulously detailed watercolors of animals, so you might imagine that I was practically giddy to see his new work now on view at Paul Kasmin Gallery. On first glance Ford's paintings might be mistaken for 19th century nature illustrations,...

One of my new favorite stores in Vancouver (well one of my new favorites anywhere, actually) is Roden Gray, a recent addition to Vancouver's trendy Gastown neighborhood. Roden Gray maintains a carefully-selected range of clothing, shoes, bags and accessories from labels that bring sophistication to casual menswear such as...

Over the past seven years, Sze Tsung Leong has produced a series of photographs called "Horizons," which provide an expansive view of different environments from across the globe. On view at the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York through 17 May 2008, "Horizons" consists of over sixty works each...

Since bursting onto the scene eight years ago as one of the hottest young photographers in town, Ryan McGinley continues to produce enduring images that focus on the energy and enthusiasm of youth. In his latest show entitled "I Know Where the Summer Goes" (a title taken from an...

Amy Stein creates amazing dioramas that explore her own version of natural history in her photographic series called "Domesticated." The photographs in this series were inspired after meeting a number of taxidermists and becoming interested in the psychology behind venturing into the wild to kill an animal and then...

Few stores out there offer to give you just what you want in bed, but a great little shop in Vancouver called "Bed" (that also sells online) has made that its motto. For several years, Bed has been offering some of the most unique bedding available by making products...

The Three Gorges Dam project along the Yangtze River in the Hubei province of China is the world's largest engineering and construction site and has displaced over 1.2 million people and destroyed 11 cities. Once completed, the resulting 400 mile long reservoir will supply enough water to generate 84...

When tougher new laws began to crack down on strip clubs in Times Square in the 1990s, performers began to focus less on the "strip" and more on the "tease"creating a new type of burlesque movement— and the wonderful Lisa Kereszi (an assistant to Nan Goldin at the time)...

British artist Muzi Quawson explores the social structures of American culture with color photographs that feel like movie stills. While in Manhattan in 2002, Quawson had a chance meeting with a young musician and mother named Amanda Jo Williams, and spent the next four years staying with Amanda and...

With bee populations in decline over the past several years, Adam Makarenko has created an imaginary world where bees flourish. In his Miniature Apiary series, the Canadian artist explores the exploitation of bees within a fictitious world he has called the Langstroth Range, which is a land of rare...

Japanese artist Kazuumi Takahashi's beautiful first monograph, "High Tide Wane Moon", explores the relationship between the moon and the ocean. Having grown up near the sea as the son of a fisherman, the schedule of the tides influenced his daily activities, just as the moon influenced the tides. In...

Sarah Pickering's photographs belong to the magical space that exists between reality and illusions. Capturing the unique bursts of smoke and light that resulted from detonating certain types of bombs including land mines, artillery, air fuel and even napalm, I was completely dazzled by her earlier photos of explosions...

Straight Line Designs is a custom furniture design and manufacturing company whose designs are always quirky and whimsical. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, the company is owned and operated by Judson Beaumont, who finds much of his inspiration in childlike imagery, and many of his designs have been greatly...

I think it's safe to say that most of us at Cool Hunting love photos that are strange, mysterious and playful. Here's a list of five of the photographers we've featured in 2007 that embody some of the things that we love in a great picture. Pieter Hugo Pieter Hugo...

If you're anything like me, you've searched long and hard for a protein and energy bar that wasn't filled with loads of chemicals and artificial ingredients. After reading about and trying a couple of flavors of Elev8 Me bars, I started buying them by the case! Elev8 Me bars...

Pieter Hugo is a South African photographer who has set out to photograph groups of people that have a distinct presence across Africa. His images of traditional healers, wild honey collectors, taxi washers, and albinos are strong and beautiful, but my favorite series is The Hyena Men which opened...

Polaroid nerds of the world unite! Well it's no secret that I'm crazy in love with Polaroids. So as you might imagine, I was thrilled to bits to come across Polanoid—which it seems was created especially for Polaroid geeks like me. Polanoid is trying to build the biggest Polaroid...