Art / Zhang Huan
Before expatriating to New York City, performance artist Zhang Huan was one of the earliest and most influential icons of contemporary Chinese art. One of his most famous pieces consisted of him covering himself with honey and sitting naked in front of a fetid public restroom outside of Beijing; eventually flies envelope his body. He’s also made a muscle suit out of meat, created sculptures, drawings, public art, and installations, and has travelled the world shocking and mesmerizing people with his naked body and masochistic performances.
Also by GERRY MAK
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. Using horror imagery, crazed and off-kilter rapping styles, and genuinely creepy beats to describe life on the streets, Gravediggaz created innovative, complex, expressive music that was macabre yet socially conscious.
As Internet-savvy as President-Elect Obama is, I wonder if he’s played the hilarious flash game, Super Obama World, a Super Mario-esque spoof in which Obama must defeat lipstick-sporting pigs and money-hungry lobbyists roaming around the icy tundras of Alaska while collecting flag pins.
Green Jelly’s claymation video for Three Little Pigs proved to the masses that claymation isn’t just for kids with its beer-swilling, joint-toking pigs and Joe Camel-esque wolf (who meets a bloody end at the hands of Rambo). Nathalie Djurberg takes things one step further — beneath the bright colors and whimsical characters that populate the plasticine world of her short films flows a current of feces, perversion, and violence. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (3)
Maile lani said | 19 October, 2007
his stuff is on exhibit in new york at the asia society…. its free on fridays from 6-9 
http://www.asiasociety.org/events/calendar.pl?rm=detail&eventid=16494
FizzGig said | 22 October, 2007
Amazing… his art verges on filth however there is such thought behind it…
Being a vegetarian I don’t know how I would go with the meat suit though! As long as it doesn’t start to stink up the place 
HAVE YOUR SAY
Brooklyn-based artist Jeph Gurecka uses food and organic matter in fascinating ways to make his conceptual pieces, taxidermying chicken parts and arranging them into a muscular, human torsoe, or making a huge pile of skulls made out of bread, or reproducing photos using salt, soil, and ash. Read more
GeekStiff4U is offering some pretty nifty, hand-crafted, skull-shaped USB flash drives that can be worn as rings. The $156 price-tag may ward off non-geeks, but that’s the point. This item is only for people really committed to transferring data in style.
We love the vivid colours in the Freak La Notte range of t-shirts. The French label’s collection of shirts are like little canvases of super-styled surrealism – bold, elegant, and enchanting.
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.
Sparks’ album Kimono My House is a demented mix of hard rock, pop, glam, new wave, and baroque pop. Read more
Yellow Fever are a great duo from Austin that harkens back to the girl-fronted indie bands of the 90s. At times Breeders-ish, at others referencing garag-y sounds from other eras, their simple and heartfelt songs remind us of why we all thought mismatched Converse and unkempt androgyny was so cool in the first place.
Listen to the Yellow Fever song, Cats and Rats.
[audio:http://soundbites.typepad.com/files/01_cats-and-rats.mp3]
We asked some of New York’s more creative residents where they like to hang out in the city, and got a mixed bag of responses back. We’ll be running their insider tips over the next few weeks. This is illustrator Marcos Chin on his favorite arcade bar, aptly named … wait for it … Barcade: ‘Barcade is a time-warp into the 1980s when going to the arcade was the major past time for many of my friends and I. Lined throughout the space are a series of classic 25 cent video arcade games, like Q-bert, Donkey Kong, Arkanoid and Tetris. There’s also a pool table near the back of the space, and a terrific selection of beers to choose from. And yes, you can drink-and-play. It’s located near the Lorimer stop on the L train, at 388 Union Avenue, in Williamsburg’. Read more
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WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Christine Callahan’s colourful photography
There is magic in these photographs by New York photographer, Christine Callahan. The vibrant colors and the beauty in the everyday give me the feeling that everything is going to be just fine. Read more
Florida-based artist, Andy Espinoza, studies at the Ringling College of Art and Design, majoring in Illustration. His paintings are beautifully conceptualised, rich in narrative and technically impressive. Of his work, he says: ‘I see each human figure as a unique challenge. I am coaxed to find the unique relationship between the shapes and tones that give the particular subject its subtle appeal and unrepeatable vitality. My paintings are not photographic representations of my subjects, but rather are my elaboration of what I find to be of value in them’. Read more
David Holmes’ The Holy Pictures
David Holmes’ fourth solo album has been a long time in the making. The man who is best known for his scoring of films such as Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13, and remixing for bands like U2 and The Manic Street Preachers, took just over ten years to make his latest album. Read more
Freelance designer Alex Trochut uses typography, illustration and a solid idea to create works that communicate to each brief. He states that he doesn’t want to choose a particular style but instead enjoys ‘expressing himself and communicating though the needs of every project’. And his formula has worked: his clients include The Guardian G2, Nike Football, and my pencil-case favourite, Faber and Faber.
Lightspeed Champion performs The Kids unhinged
We met Lightspeed Champion (Londoner and former Test Icicles member Dev Hynes) backstage at Oxford Arts Factory at precisely 4.15pm. Read more
Australian illustrator Moofus is just 11 years old. As he says, ‘my mum and dad won’t let me leave school to get a proper job, so I draw lots of pictures’. This limited edition print of Sydney’s Coogee Beach is printed on Epson heavyweight matt paper with archival inks and is just US$20 through the Lost At E Minor store. Read more
Woohoo! We have five copies of the new Faint album, Fascination [Inertia], to give away to randomly selected Australian-based Lost At E Minor subscribers who leave a message under this post telling us about the last time they, ummm, Fainted.
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ELMANCO / Stefano Ricci said | 17 October, 2007
whoa, this si crazy…