James Ellerker

WE'RE SUPPORTING

Brooklyn-based artist Leah Beeferman draws inspiration from architecture, maps, and mechanical diagrams for her geometric, almost-non-representational drawings. Her images seem ancient and timeless, hinting at traditional Asian scroll paintings, folk art, and cave paintings. Yet through her installations and projections, they cast new light on the contemporary spaces in which they exist. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

Summertime at McCarren Park in Williamsburg is picturesque. It’s often filled with a mix of people, old and young, picnicking or sitting in the shade, running along the track or playing soccer (or football, depending on where you’re from). It’s also connected to a now defunct McCarren (swimming) pool which transforms into an outdoor concert space on Sundays during the summer. In the past, performers such as Leslie Feist, M.I.A., The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Broken Social Scene have performed. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

Swedish designer Paula Hagerskans has a cool masculine-edge to her female fashion lines. But it’s her attention to detail that really blows my mind. Her perfectly tailored jackets, along with her flat dress shoes, make dressing up fun, comfortable and classy. When asked what she keeps in mind while designing, Hagerskans responds, ‘Bohemic music lovers, humor, graphic design and the female body’.

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

Rack is a quarterly bilingual magazine, published in English and Chinese, and geared towards Asian influenced global youth culture. Read more

Not much more needs to be said about this. Ricky Gervais, the funniest man in England, meets Larry David, the funniest man in America. Wit and genius collides. Very, very clever.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Finnish folk band Gjallarhorn is named for the horn that the Norse god Heimdall blows to announce Ragnarock — the end of the world. The bands music is far from dark, however: their brand of Scandinavian folk music incorporates mouth harps, fiddles, flutes, and even didgeridoo in a melange of cheerful, but ethereally beautiful tunes sung in Swedish.