Emma Kidd

WE'RE SUPPORTING

Chinese artist Liu Jianhua has built a model of the Shanghai skyline using just poker chips and dice. Widely known for his quirky ceramic sculptures, his exhibition Dream in Conflict has just been opened at the Galleria Continua in Italy and features Unreal Scene amongst other works bordering on the surreal.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

There’s something quite captivating about the muted tones and soft textures of Anna Fraser’s photographs. The Australian designer has a very precise sense of framing, which is reflected in the slightly insidery, but beautifully balanced perspective that her work provides on places and scenery that only few people ever get to experience. By her own admission, Fraser ‘prefers things that are not usually very fashionable. Like beige, lots of beige and maybe a bit of taupe’. We think she might be onto something. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

Ed Janssen is famed in Melbourne for his jewellery designs, sold through cult Morrissey-friendly label This Charming Man. ‘The Knuckle Sandwich’ charm necklace (two pieces of bread on either side of a tiny set of brass knuckles, as pictured above) exudes an oddly amusing menace. More recently ‘The Bear Trap’ has been dangling from every second neck, wiping out hope for Melbourne’s unsuspecting tiny forest animals. Janssen is about to launch a new range inspired by the iconography of various secret societies. Melburnians can check out their old and new favourites at the first This Charming Man exhibition launching this week at Alice Euphemia’s new store. Flex those tiny knuckles and watch those tiny feet. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

Sculptor Richard Stipl creates disturbing, gothic, vaguely religious tableaus using hyper-realistic, resin casted figures that quite often are engaged in some bizarre behavior, covered in blood, leaking gore, or otherwise frozen in some horrific pose. A friend of mine said, ‘If you’re going to develop that level of skill, why would you use it to make such ugly things?’ I kind of like gross things, though, so it doesn’t bother me. Read more

WE'RE READING

Illustrator Dallas Clayton has just published an awesome book called, wait for it, An Awesome Book. It’s a ridiculously cute, heart-rending children’s book, encouraging kids and adults alike to never lose our senses of wonder and imagination (psst, it could make a great late gift idea!)

The Liars were in the Netherlands recently and we came across some kids doing this dance. It’s really bizarre to watch. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

There’s a world-weariness about Two Gallants frontman Adam Stephens. It reveals itself in the Tom Waits-like raspiness that permeates his gin house drawl and in the talkin’ blues narratives that he weaves around his simple acoustic fingerpicking. They are the new superstars of the West Coast scene, majestic showmen in homespun rags.

Listen to the Two Gallants track, The hand that held you down.