Thao with the Get Down Stay Down

Landscape photos resemble traditional Chinese paintings

Chinese born Don Hong-Oai spent most of his life in Saigon, where he apprenticed with a photography studio. He stayed in Vietnam through the war, before fleeing by boat to California in the late 1970s. While living in San Francisco, he went back to China every few years to create new negatives. He remained largely unknown until the final years of his life when he was finally discovered by the wider public. He died in 2004. Read more

Oasis Clubhouse: a new project by Chef Felix

Any tried and true foodie in Buenos Aires is an assiduous follower of Chef Diego Felix’s’ closed door restaurant, Casa Felix. Typically, however, his inspired pescatarian eats are only available a few months out of the year in Buenos Aires while the rest of the time, the Felix clan travels through Argentina, San Francisco, New York, Puerto Rico, and Latin America, generally, hosting closed door diners around the world. Luckily for all of us here in Buenos Aires, his contemporary yet distinctively regional fare can now be found in private events around the city as well thanks to the super exclusive Oasis Clubhouse. Read more

Large scale mural by Hugh Leeman for Art Basel Miami

This is my new 8′ x 20′ hand painted mural in Miami, Florida, for Art Basel week. The mural is of Tracy and Raymond. Both are friends of mine from San Francisco. Raymond stopped by my studio to chat the other day as I was finishing up his portrait, on the right. He had cut his hair and shaved most of his beard, but was really excited to see his likeness so large. I told him it was to be part of a large mural installed in Miami. He said: ‘That’s great. Years ago I was in the slammer there’.

Jürgen Teller for Marc Jacobs

Ten years of German photographer Jürgen Teller’s candid, glamorous photo campaigns for Marc Jacobs’ men’s and women’s collections have been collated into one cohesive 576-page fashion bible. This book does an excellent job of detailing just how significant this collaboration has been for fashion, featuring appearances from the likes of Sofia Coppola, Charlotte Rampling, Meg White, Thurston Moore, Rufus Wainwright, William Eggleston, and Winona Ryder. Read more

Yonlu’s hidden recordings

One of the most intriguing stories I’ve come across this year is about a young artist called Yonlu, born Vinicius Gageiro Marques in the town of Porto Alegre, in Brazil. His story is short but fascinating. As it goes, this sixteen year old songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and virtual artist locked himself in his bathroom, signed on to one of the various suicide forums he belonged to on the Internet, and took his own life, remaining online until the very end. After his death, his father went through his computer and found numerous musical creations, including the songs that make up his debut album through Luaka Bop. It’s an amazing listen and very ahead of its time.

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Edgar Muller’s three-dimensional street art

Some people are talented, others are just truly remarkable. German artist Edgar Muller makes these three-dimensional apocalyptic fantasy street art in cities across the world. His work is reminiscent of that of English artist, Julian Beever. Read more