Peter Franc

WE'RE SUPPORTING

When looking at the beautiful paintings of Mamma Anderson, I almost get the impression that the art world is being forced to look back upon itself. The body of her work seems to present itself like a textured snapshot of galleries, coffeshops and well-designed interiors. The rough, folksy execution of these paintings stands in pretty stark contrast to the particularly slick world she chooses to depict. Refreshing, to say the least. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Back in the ’90s, just as the gangsta rap phenomenon was winding down and hip-hop was fragmenting into its own subgenres, Prince Paul and RZA kicked off the short-lived horrorcore fad with their group Gravediggaz. At the time, the melding of dark, gothic themes with hardboiled rap seemed gimmicky and awkward, a strange extension of the early and awful attempts to bridge hip-hop and metal, but on closer listen, the now defunct supergroup was way more innovative than they were given credit for. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

New York-based Japanese illustrator Yuko Shimizu has been featured on Lost At E Minor several times over the past couple of years. I love the sense of drama her work conveys, the apparent colour clashes that somehow gel despite pre-existing rules about their compatibility. We checked in with her to see what she’s been up to of late: ‘I just came back from a week in Georgian Bay in Canada. No internet, no cell phone reception for a week. It was fantastic! Now I am getting ready for a group show at Visual Arts Gallery in New York that opens in September. I am creating two new 40” x 60” drawings. I’m also slowly refurbishing my website here and there’. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

Alice in Wonderland-obsessives take note: the fantastical and whimsically surreal artist, Mark Ryden, will be signing copies of his latest book, The Tree Show, at the MOCA store in Los Angeles on Jan 31st. Read more

Artist David Shrigley’s animated music video for Blur is so simple, so sweet, so perfect. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched it, yet it still makes me cry every time.

WE'RE WEARING

Made from 100 percent organic cotton and eco-friendly, this super soft tee celebrates a sinister world of kaleidoscopic colours and ripples of psychedelia, of serenading Queens, of dancing flamingos, of unimaginable euphoria. It’s all the work of Sydney label, Das Monk and it’s available through the Lost At E Minor online store for just US$40. Now, there’s one hell of a Christmas present, even if we do say so ourselves!

WE'RE READING

DJ Spooky — That Subliminal Kid — is just about the deepest crate digger around, trawling the barrels of long-lost record stores for choice vinyl to spin in his wickedly dubby sets. He gave us the inside word last week on his eight favourite songs right now via our sister website, My Secret Playlist. This is what he had to say about Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s Panic in Babylon: ‘If there’s anything that the twenty-first century has told us, it’s that dub is the real original hip-hop. Lee Scratch even had to make it clear in 1965 by adding “Scratch” to his middle name. Take that, Grandmaster Flash!’ Read the rest of DJ Spooky’s Secret Playlist.