culture and life

England’s New Nike Football Kit

Andrew Soar — Tue, 21 May 2013 01:16:26 +0000

Sportswear giant Nike has unveiled the new home kit for the England national football team, the first since they were announced as the shirt supplier following an association with Umbro since 1954. The clean and distinctive design takes the strip back to its roots with the traditional colors of white and dark blue to celebrate the Football Association’s 150th anniversary. The blue used on the new kit is the same that featured on England’s first ever kit.

The kit was leaked by Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere who posted an image of a pupil at his former school wearing the jersey, ‘demonstrating that the kit belongs to the nation, not just the players lucky enough to represent England’. Wilshere arrived to watch a training session at the Priory School in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, before picking out lucky student Jason Kelly (now the coolest kid in school) to wear and reveal the shirt for the first time.

The Sketchbook Project

Andrew Soar — Mon, 13 May 2013 08:10:50 +0000

The Sketchbook Project is a crowd-sourced art project which sees artists turn a small 32-page grey sketchbook into a living, breathing piece of art. Each sketchbook is then catalogued and becomes part of a traveling exhibition of the handmade books, before eventually ending up in the permanent collection at Brooklyn Art Library in Williamsburg. Allowing for the project to go global, a simultaneous digital library exists to showcase the project to those that can’t make it to the trendy, creative New York suburb. People from all walks of life and with any level of artistic skill are invited to fill the pages of a blank sketchbook and send it back for inclusion in the ever-growing library of inspiration.

Recycled Brooklyn

Andrew Soar — Fri, 10 May 2013 11:25:35 +0000

Sustainable living is grabbing a hold of all of us, forget 3D printing, recycling, reusing and re-selling old, unwanted materials has never been more ‘on trend’. Williamsburg, New York-based furniture design company Recycled Brooklyn – the clue is in the name – are masters in making sustainable items fashionable must-haves. They do this by ensuring that discarded wood and metal piping are not just sent to clog up landfill sites, but is salvaged and turned into stunning everyday furniture pieces with cutting edge design at their core. It gets better, each item comes with its very own NYC transit map detailing exact coordinates to where the component parts were salvaged from.

Recycled Brooklyn is the brainchild of designer brothers Matthew and Steven Loftice who moved to New York and realised that furniture was a lot cheaper if you do it yourself. One discarded door and a few metal pipe legs later, a desk was made and then inadvertently, a dream job and business. The brothers found that there was a growing appetite for sustainably made furniture and after rummaging through building sites and reclaimed property found that salvaged wood was easy to find and the company was born. I dare you to not want one of their creations below, I want the lot…

Dave Cole – Patriot Games

Andrew Soar — Fri, 10 May 2013 08:45:32 +0000

New Hampshire-born, Rhode Island-based conceptual artist Dave Cole mixes craft with political messaging, often making the viewer rethink their thoughts on national identity and patriotism. Cole’s protean craftsmanship gives voice to both a scholarly knowledge of this nation’s past and a conscientious understanding of what it means to be American in today’s society. His work is a poetic inquisition into the path of empire; it is also a silver-lined bow to the impartial course of time.

Some of Cole’s finest works come from exploring these themes and creating bold, sculptural pieces that allow for play and breathe new life into typically industrial machinery. The Music Box is a perfect example of this, with a 13-ton asphalt steamroller reconstructed and, mostly, meticulously reproduced into a working music box that plays ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’. Other works including Jackhammer Orchestra’, ‘Singer‘ and the ‘Knitting Machine‘ have all seen Cole play his own artistic games with the American Dream, you can’t help but love him for that!

David Bowie – The Next Day (Video)

Andrew Soar — Wed, 08 May 2013 06:54:54 +0000

David Bowie has enlisted some of Hollywood’s A list talent for his latest music video ‘The Next Day‘, the second coming from the album of the same name. Directed by Floria Sigismundi and features sultry French actress Marion Cotillard as a prostitute suffering from a severe case of stigmata and Gary Oldman as a less-than-pious bishop. Bowie himself stars as well, offering parlor entertainment in this church-run sex-for-money scheme.

Cisco by David Bellemere

Andrew Soar — Wed, 08 May 2013 04:13:27 +0000

German-born Franziska von Tschurtschenthaler never wanted to be a model, but is fast becoming one of the most talked about models around. The 24 year old from Munich has even got her own model alias, Cisco Tschurtschenthaler, or Cisco for short. An avid surfer and deeply spiritual new age traveller, Cisco spends her time away from the camera’s lens by finding inner zen with daily transcendental meditation. Away from the hippie vibe is a stunning blue-eyed model whose effortless beauty has attracted a host of top photographers and her latest shoot for Treats Magazine with David Bellemere is her hottest yet.

Hiromi Hirasaka’s Kokeshi Matches

Andrew Soar — Tue, 07 May 2013 06:35:32 +0000

Japanese artist Hiromi Hirasaka has created a series of matchsticks which feature facial expressions on their heads, igniting a bit of a humour to what is typically seen as the mundane. Aptly named ‘Kokeshi Matches‘, the fire starters already have physical attributes similar to the Japanese dolls which have long cylindrical bodies and spherical heads, offering a perfect canvas for fun faces.

Evian – Baby & Me

Andrew Soar — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:00:05 +0000

The clever folks in the marketing department at Evian and their team of creatives at BETC Paris have come up with another smash hit, with the baby-infused dose of pure fun in their latest ad campaign Baby & Me. The follow up to 2009′s all-conquering Roller Babies video and 2011′s Baby Inside, sees a group of people seeing ‘baby versions’ of themselves in a shop window, before beginning to dance with them. The film, shot by French super directors We Are From LA aka Pierre and Clement, is set to smash all records for online ad views.

Evian’s global brand director, Laurent Houel, says the association with babies is deeply routed in the brand’s heritage after bottled water was first recommended as a perfect water for babies. “The babies are true to our story and heritage,” Houel said. “The love affair of the brand with babies started in France in 1935, when Evian was first recommended as a perfect water for babies. It is still today the No. 1 water used by mothers for their babies [thanks to its pH-neutral mineral composition]. So fundamentally, there is a true link, it is not a marketing trick.”

Portrait of a Poet

Andrew Soar — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 15:38:11 +0000

Paris-based French film director Kendy Ty has a penchant for brilliant visual portrayals of creatives and his latest film ‘Portrait of a Poet’, is another stunning example of his work. The short film features French poet Mai Vallee who narrates the piece with her own poem that starts “Thank you dad thank you mum, for the chaotic childhood, ’cause my life is like the ascent of a mountain, and it’s true my feet hurt sometimes, but although the way is long and bruising… the road is beautiful.” The phrase poetry in motion has never been more apt.

Les Bains – Street Art Makeover

Andrew Soar — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:25:43 +0000

A derelict nightclub in the heart of Paris has been turned into an evolving gallery space with the help of fifty of the world’s finest street artists. Les Bains-Douches, a stone’s throw from the Pompidou Centre in Paris was built in 1885 as a municipal bathhouse. More recently, as Les Bains, it became one of the coolest nightclubs in Paris, in its time, a favourite haunt of Mick Jagger, Kate Moss, Johnny Depp and Andy Warhol. However, over-enthusiastic DIY work by the nightclub’s director led to the building being declared a safety hazard and, in 2010, it was ordered to be closed.

The following year, owner Jean-Pierre Marois formed La Société des Bains to try to preserve the building, eventually securing its future as a new venue that will open in 2014. Marois decided that in the interim period it should be a home for creativity stating:

“In keeping with the artistic soul of the place, we have transformed this dead time into a fleeting, creative buzz, Les Bains will host an Artists’ Residency, and the whole building will be offered as a giant canvas for a plethora of urban artists commissioned by Magda Danysz.”

From January this year, 50 renowned street artists have had the run of the building, turning it into a 3,000 square metre gallery space, albeit one that is inaccessible to the public. Marois and gallery owner Magda Danysz invited artists including Futura, Space Invader and Sambre to use material drawn from the building – electricity, ripped-up floorboards, rubble and spray paint – turning the empty shell into a living, breathing canvas of artwork.

Abbey Clancy – Hunger Magazine

Andrew Soar — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:40:40 +0000

Blonde model, mum and the wife of footballer Peter Crouch, Abbey Clancy has stripped off for celebrity portrait photographer Rankin. The Liverpudlian wag is captured in nothing but expensive shoes in a series of sexy, provocative and smouldering black and white images for Issue 4 of the photographer’s own Hunger Magazine. It is good to see the magazine doing so well after the editorial team here were involved int he launch issue.

Light Show – Hayward Gallery

Andrew Soar — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:15:49 +0000

The immensely popular Light Show at London’s Hayward Gallery is the latest in the Southbank gallery’s great succession of entertainment shows. The exhibition shines bright with series of art that twinkles, glistens, glitters, radiates and glows. For anyone that loves neon lights or even that horrible 90s office strip lighting – this will blow your mind – it is basically LED porn. All of the works use light to shape and sculpt space while creating a discourse about experience and perception.

Everything in it, no matter how advanced, complex, fetching or trite, is theatrical, not least because everything has the instant appeal – or advantage – of luminosity. It’s a pleasure trip for all and a tonic for the gloomy or tired in particular, each work being as brightly beautiful as the next.

Light Show at The Hayward Gallery is on now until Monday 6 May 2013

Lucy + Jorge Orta – Cloud: Metéoros

Andrew Soar — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:30:13 +0000

St. Pancras International is fast becoming one of London’s most iconic public art spaces and last week saw Lucy and Jorge Orta’s Cloud: Metéoros, two 2om wide magical nebulae float high above the Eurostar concourse. Set amid the glass-vaulted architecture of the listed Barlow Shed, Cloud: Metéoros resembles vast cumuli populated with travellers, a ‘magic carpet’ taking passengers on an imaginary journey in the skies.

Meteoros is derived from ancient Greek, meaning raised from the ground, suspended, lofty or in the midst. Clouds have long been intercessors between reality and the imagination, between heaven and earth, lightness and gravity. They inhabit the skies of Renaissance fresco paintings, often depicted crowded with laymen and prophets, angels and deities. Throughout history, this celestial vault has been a site of conviviality, of learning and exchange.

Emily Ratajkowski – Darius Magazine

Andrew Soar — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:52:15 +0000

New York-based fashion-slash-porn photographer Jonathan Leder has captured Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines star and model Emily Ratajkowski in a series of Polaroid images taken in Woodstock, New York last May. The images are distinctively Leder, who solely works in analog under little or no lighting and never using retouching. The series of erotic images have been given a huge amount of space in the launch issue Darius Magazine in Sweden. Meanwhile, Emily Ratajkowski’s star continues to shine with talk of her becoming the next big Sports Illustrated model.

Sarah Anne DiNardo – Tape Artist

Andrew Soar — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 08:30:52 +0000

Sarah Anne DiNardo is no ordinary artist; she has a unique skill born from a curious childhood love of Chiquito banana stickers. DiNardo’s love of the tactile feeling of tape evolved and manifested itself in her adult life into a creative passion for making intricate tape sculptures. The talented artist, creates one-of-a-kind tape sculptures with hand rolled masking tape that are formed into the finished pieces by placing them in unwanted and unused wooden boxes she finds. The results of a painstaking creative process are captured by Rhode Island production company Gnarly Bay showcasing, both DiNardo’s skill and the stunning works of art.

Martin Usborne – The Silence of Dogs in Cars

Andrew Soar — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:00:59 +0000

East London-based artist Martin Usborne’s has turned a childhood memory of waiting in a car whilst outside a supermarket into a series of photographs that focus on the ever-curious relationship between humans and man’s best friend, the dog. The series, entitled ‘The Silence of Dogs in Cars’ showing now at The Little Black Gallery in London until 27 March captures the expressive fear of being alone and unheard through the eyes of canines.

The set of shots – which were awarded Best in Show in the Creative Review Photography Annual 2012 – is dark, compelling and at times dare I say funny, Usborne and his doggy stars brilliantly capture muteness, dejectedness, longing, trepidation, anger and sadness.

Martin Usborne’s The Silence of Dogs in Cars is at The Little Black Gallery until 27 April 2013.

Hanksy – More Than Just Tom Hanks

Andrew Soar — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 08:35:09 +0000

New York-based artist Hanksy uses the streets as his canvas, employing clever puns and turns of phrases to delight fans and observant passersby. Shortly after moving to New York in 2010, Hanksy began noticing the city’s vibrant street art scene, in which hand painted works of art, elaborate stencils, and detailed screen prints enrich blighted spots and capture the attention of urban dwellers. Wanting to contribute to the ever-growing movement, but determined to maintain a light-hearted approach, Hanksy began satirising British street art legend Banksy by mashing up his most famous works with references from Tom Hanks films.

His clever remixes delighted New Yorkers – most of his early work was found in the vibrant arts hub of Bushwick – turning Hanksy into a social media phenomenon and quickly earning him a place in the competitive New York street art world. Hanksy’s new work broadens his satirical scope, lampooning pop culture icons like Bruce Willis and Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Jamie Foxx, Christopher Walken and even the First Lady Michelle Obama on a seasonal Easter Egg on the White House lawn, whilst at all times staying true to his punny origins. With Hanksy on the streets, no celebrity is safe.

Nitehawk Cinema – Williamsburg

Andrew Soar — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 08:30:30 +0000

Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg, the creative hub of Brooklyn, New York and hipster mecca, is the historic independent movie house in the area. Opening in 2011, Nitehawk offers an unparalleled cinematic experience by combining exemplary first-run and repertory film programming along with tableside food and beverage service in all theatres.

It is only possible because it is single-handedly responsible for the groundbreaking overturn of the prohibition-era New York State liquor law that made serving alcohol in motion picture theatres illegal. Nitehawk is more than a just a movie theatre, it is topped by three floors of residential apartments with all enjoying a communal private roof deck and an ultra modern a zinc, LED and glass facade. As the sun begins to set the Nitehawk showcases a stunning light show that mirrors that shared cinematic experience enjoyed by those inside watching any of its three screens.

Melania Brescia Photography

Andrew Soar — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 22:39:43 +0000

In the age of Instagram, taking pictures of yourself and sharing them has never been more prevalent and 21-year-old Melania Brescia, is a master. The young Spanish photographer from Málaga is enjoying a growing reputation for her intimate, softly lit self-portrait shots that showcases the brunette in a series of stunning compositions, from homemade-feeling snaps to creative photo manipulation. Now branching into fashion and portrait photography, Brescia’s star is set to shine even brighter as she hones her creative craft.

Billboard Street Art by Ox

Andrew Soar — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 15:30:41 +0000

Parisian street artist Ox is brightening up the streets of France with his project Poster Time. Ox takes on the classic billboard with a refreshing, humourous take on the surroundings, creating optical illusions with the original pieces of work painted on paper. As with all billboard adverts, the works only last for a short amount of time until they are subsequently pasted over by a new ad.