Secret Still

Russian-born but London-based paper mistress Yulia Brodskaya has made me look at one of my worst enemies in a new light. Paper and I have a long-standing animosity toward each other. It just sits there, blankly staring at me, never giving me a single hint about what I should draw, and I, in return, tend to crumple it up a lot or, in rare cases, light it on fire out of frustration. Brodskaya, on the other hand, takes that pressed tree pulp and bends it to her every whim. She creates the mind-bogglingly complex type styles similar to Marian Bantjes or Si Scott out of simple paper. Enemy or not, the dynamic between me and paper is shifting, and Brodskaya deserves the thanks for that. Maybe one day I can pick up the pencil without first picking up the matches as a show of force.

Yulia Brodskaya

Now you’re just trying to be weird.

Cubby Dances to Beyonce

Whopper Virgins

Girl Blows 4 Bubbles in 1

Battle of the Shops 08

24 Hours of Air Traffic

7002

Ode to Joy

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Big ups to Secret Still hermano Rey Ortega for dropping some knowledge on me about the new group show that he’s a part of. Without his e-mail I never would’ve seen the works of Shen Plum, who definitely perked up my gray Monday morning. The only reason I didn’t analyze her work for a full hour was because there were burritos calling from the next room. No one can resist that siren song. But then I came back and re-enjoyed everything I could get my eyes on in her portfolio. Her work is soft, playful, and colorful in all the right places. It puts me in mind of being trapped in a vortex of pillows and electro-folk acid jams. If you’re in the neighborhood of Canada then you can stop by Show and Tell Gallery to see Rey and Shen, along with a handful of other young art monsters, in their current show titled Gifted.

Shen Plum

Are you sick of these yet? Show of hands.

Charles Krafft: Form and Function

Kim Dorland

All 80’s All Day

Colours

I’ll be in LA this weekend, so I was looking through the landslide of art shows opening down there for my ocular pleasure. Aside from the Jeff Soto show at the Riverside Art Museum, which is one of the main reasons I’m going down there, there are a few others that I need to get my eyes into. I had originally planned to go to the Elbowtoe/Armsrock show at Thinkspace Gallery, but those dudes turned me down for an interview I was hired to do, because they said the magazine was too commercial. Eat a dick, bros, you’re doing street art in a fucking gallery. On top of that letdown, there is an amazing show in New York that I will also have to miss out on - Anathema at Last Rites Gallery. The show is a duet featuring new works from Shawn Barber and Vincent Castiglia. You could call it HorrorErotica. Barber has taken his work to an incredible new level with this series, and he was really nice to me that one time I was in his studio, so he gets the win. Castiglia has always impressed me with his skill, and he too steps it up by producing a series of paintings using his own blood as the medium. I just can’t drive to New York as easily, guys. Lo siento. Anybody in NYC that wants to send me photos from that show, I’ll post ‘em up quick-like.Thankfully, Cerasoli:LeBasse is gonna save my poor, disappointed retinas with two new shows on Friday night. They’ll be host to a solo show featuring new works from the master of mermaids, Evan B. Harris, and also a group show featuring works from a stellar roster of artists that is too numerous to mention. I’m gonna have to break a couple of traffic laws to make it down there in time, but it will definitely be worth the high-speed chase.

Shock and awe aplenty.

Black Charlie Brown via Fecal Face

Preston Harper

Mouse Agility

Larytta - Souvenir de Chine

Saturn (Director’s Cut)

Swedish illustrator Jonas Bergstrand was just the dose of Mid-Century Modern that I needed injected into my Wednesday morning. I was feeling the lack of inspiration thanks to the newly descended cold front and the general malaise of mid-week grind. Bergstrand got my mind greased with some serious idea juices. Why does it sound like there was some kind of perverse mental foreplay happening? Now, on top of feeling inspired, I feel a little violated.

Jonas Bergstrand

Dressed to the nines.

Sketch Theatre: Ana Bagayan

Silas Baxter-Neal

Leveraging and deleveraging

National Geographic Zero Gravity Idents

The Blizzards - Reasons

Leah Giberson’s work brings back every awkward and magical moment I’ve ever had walking alone through suburban environments. There’s just something alien about a school when it’s empty, or houses with no cars in the driveway at night. Why is it so easy for the places that people call home to look dead and empty when they’re not active?

Leah Giberson

Keeping it critical.

Peter Saville Interview

Stereo: Way Out East