Mugo = Art + Technology + Toy + Music

I love these little MP3 players. Mugos are art toys that play music. They don't hold much (2G) but are still a step in the right direction; combining art and technology to create something great.

Holiday Gift Ideas - week 2

Cadlestick holder from Rare Device $20

Leather bow cuff from pixie market $29

Ceramic pot from Velocity $36

Terracotta slow cooker from Reform School $62

Arctic wool cap from Blackbird $150

Alexander Girard wooden toy from Hive $160

Wooden radio from Design Public $250

Long scarf from Lambs Ear $260

Here is this week's gift ideas for all budgets. I'm partial to the wood radio myself, but all these goodies are hard to beat.

Jeff Soto poster for Faith No More

Check out the new poster Jeff Soto did for one of the final Faith No More reunion shows. It will be available to purchase next week through Secret Serpents.

via Jeff's blog

The Wilderness Downtown and The Johnny Cash Project

The Wilderness Downtown is a gorgeous interactive multimedia video coded in HTML5. On one level, it's simply a music video for the Arcade Fire and a commercial for Google's browser Chrome. But the site's director Chris Milk creates a subtle emotional atmosphere that transforms what could have been a technical exercise into a powerful work of art.

Chris Milk also directed the crowd-sourced Johnny Cash Project. It's a stunning tribute to one of our favorite performers. Hopefully Mr. Milk will have more web-based projects in the near future. His work suggests a way for music videos to fully embrace the web's potential.

Holiday Gift Ideas for Art & Design lovers - week 1

Cactus Egg Plant from Branch $12

Stencil how to book from The Curiosity Shoppe $24.95

Owl statue from Three Potato Four $36.00

Bonsai Forest Kit from Branch $54

Hummingbird skull necklace from Bona Drag $75

Alexander Girard Print from Room & Board $95

Porcelain beaver skull from The Shiny Squirrel $115

Amish made scooter from Reform School $245

We all love giving gifts. With the upcoming holiday season, we'll all have plenty of people to shop for. There are lots of great things out there for every price range and I'm here to help sift through the web for gift ideas. I'll be doing a weekly post of wonderful stuff for every size wallet. Here's the first round of ideas listed from least expensive to most expensive.

The Art of Nick Cave

One of my favorite blogs The Selvedge Yard recently reminded me that Nick Cave is not only an amazing musician but he's also a fantastic artist. His work reminds me of what I was into in my teenage and twenty-something years. I loved religious art, mostly the mix of indigenous meets catholic art you find in Latin America. Anyway, check out the post here and find out more about Nick Cave's art on his website. 

Sam Gibbons

Baltimore artist Sam Gibbons paints fun and hypnotic work that I happily get lost in.

Erica Il Cane at Fifty24SF

Fifty24SF is currently running a solo show by Italian street artist Erica Il Cane (Eric the dog). The above are limited prints currently available in correlation to his show.

AJ Fosik at Guerrero Gallery in SF

A.J. Fosik is one of my favorite artists. His use of color and materials is truly remarkable. His newest work is currently showing at Guerrero Gallery in San Francisco.

Happy Town Menagerie by Petit Collage

Happy Town Menagerie is the newest project by designer Lorena Siminovich of Petit Collage. These beautiful works are available through The Curiosity Shoppe in San Francisco.

Haroshi

 The works of Japanese artist Haroshi are made from recycled skateboard decks. I love these pieces and find the reuse of objects so inspiring.

The Influencers

INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.

Have you thought about who and what influences our culture? What makes something cool and who is responsible for making it uncool (by bringing it to the mainstream)? Frank and I were just talking about that over the weekend and then I came upon this video yesterday. I thought it was a decent look into the subject. If you find this subject interesting then also check out this PBS Frontline episode from 2001 that discusses "The Merchants of Cool". 

Seeing Orange - Dutch Design Week SF

This Sunday begins Seeing Orange - Dutch Design Week SF. There are all kinds of great events throughout the city including a Dutch design bike tour, Dutch designer workshops at CCA and several lectures. Check their website for more information.

Josh Keyes at David B. Smith Gallery

Tonight at David B. Smith Gallery is the opening of Josh Keyes' newest solo show Collision. Here's what Josh has to say about his newest work: 

The inspiration for these paintings came from an old alchemists engraving from around the 16th century. The engraving consists of multiple images that illustrate a personified narrative of the chemical transformation of metals moving from one solid to disintegration and reconfiguration. The iconographic device used in this engraving is that of the archetypal king whose power shifts between tyranny and freedom.

This series of images of this alchemical engraving enchanted my imagination, and has become a grounding source for this current body of work and the work that is to come. A story evolved for me surrounding the theme of death and rebirth at the core is a meditation on transformation. These ideas had to find expression through my existing lexicon of myth and imagery, so I began to invent and develop a cast of characters and situations that for me served to interpret the essence of my source material, the "old wine new bottle" approach. 

With all of my imagery they stand as metaphors, not event action or event is to be taken literally. The depiction of death or dying in this series could be seen as a relationship, the ending of a job, an inner life change. The hyenas could be that group of bullies you may have encountered after school, or the negative critical voice we all have at times in our head that keep us from living out our dreams. One could think of this work as an expression of the individual personality. We all have within us the potential for love and compassion as well as aggressive tendencies, we as a culture are capable of great communal achievement as well as the destructive and tyrannical manifestations that we have sadly seen throughout history. It is not to say that one is good and one bad, it is to acknowledge that these energies and drives are hardwired into our psychology and physiology.

- Josh Keyes

Theo Ellsworth at Giant Robot in LA

 

Tomorrow is the opening night for Theo Ellsworth's solo show at Giant Robot in LA. Stop by and check it out if you can.

SFMOMA Expansion

Like most people in the bay area I'm very excited about the SFMOMA expansion. The expansion will house the extensive Fisher Collection (previous blog post here) and will be designed by Norwegian architects Snohetta. This week there was a great article on SFCurbed regarding new details on the expansion that include new residential space and replacing a fire station.