Public Press

WE'RE SUPPORTING

For the longest time I was an enormous admirer of the loopy, distinct line drawings of Brooklyn-illustrator Matt Hollister. Having seemingly lost track of his work for a couple of years (who knows how that manages to happen), I was shocked to stumble across his work yet again recently while perusing the New York Times. I had to check out his website immediately, and from there I wandered into his blog. The best part was that you could almost watch a new style emerge chronologically, beginning with the old drawings and then a small experiment, a mono print and then, more and more, mono prints and experiments, less and less loopy drawings. Even the subject matter seems to have changed and become much quirkier to accommodate the new style. I’m certainly feeling that staying abreast of Hollister’s work should now prove pretty inescapable.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

Ben Thomas applies the skills he learned at the International Design and Animation School in Adelaide to make large, wide-angle photos of massive urban landscapes look as if they are tiny dioramas. 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

Brian Bress is my art obsession at the moment. I recently saw his show at the LFL gallery in New York, and his collages and photographs were so striking, modern and funny that I couldn’t stop staring at them.

WE'RE READING

This odd, atmospheric animation by web artists Aaron Russ Clinger and Miltos Manetas is simple but effective, a finely rendered piece of interactive art. There are some pretty crazy things you can make the floating man do if you play around with this long enough.

How old must Kermit be now? Not to old to collaborate with skater-friendly retailer Supreme and photographer Terry Richardson. Kermit, who usually wears nothing, has been hooked up with some new threads to advertise the brand. It seems Kermit and Terry are the perfect work partners: they’ve even released a video clip documenting the shoot.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

A culmination of nearly four years of writing and recording, Omaha quintet, The Faint are preparing to release their fifth album, Fasciinatiion, on August 5 on the band’s own newly-formed label, blank.wav. Working without any time constraints, the songs went through many recorded incarnations before finding their final forms. The result is the best album in the band’s career, a record that is the purest culmination of The Faint’s brilliant musical instincts, ideas and aesthetic, with each member contributing equally to its creation.