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WE'RE SUPPORTING

Latvian-born, UK-based artist Henrijs Preiss cites Russion Icons and Renaissance paintings as primary influences, but his paintings are surprisingly non-figurative. The images seem to draw from a cryptic system of iconography, as if they were panels from the temple walls of a futuristic solar cult. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

Lu Cong’s cultural identity, split between mainland China where he was born in 1978 and small-town Midwest where he immigrated to 11 years later, informs his beautiful portraits mostly of white, American women. The images harken back to old cigarette ads from pre-Communist China, as well as the 18th-century Romantics in the West. Read more

I don’t care if Jimmy Hendrix was dragged kicking and screaming from where he lies, put through a torrid round of detox, and handed an invisible guitar – a Flying V carved out of the bones of Robert Johnson. It would still pale in comparison to this. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

Berlin-based artist Ralf Schmerberg built this igloo out of 322 refrigerators to comment on the energy we waste on a day to day basis.

WE'RE READING

I am really into Hong Kong action flicks from the 1980s and 90s. When I first moved to New York, there were a handful of curious friends who were also interested in watching movies such as City on Fire by Ringo Lam, which Reservoir Dogs was based on. How did they find videos like thus? At the legendary Kim’s Video in New York City. These days, City on Fire can be find online, and Kim’s is history. But all the videos that entertained the film geeks of this city for more than twenty years have found a new home in, wait for it, Salemi, Sicily. Yes, the southern island of Italy. Kim has recently relocated there, as this sad but heartwarming story about him in yesterday’s New York Times reveals.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Castevet are a promising new experimental black metal band out of New York. They have a much more complex and technical approach than other bands of this ilk, revealing post-hardcore and death metal influences as evidenced by guitarist Andrew Hock’s work in deathgrind outfit Biolich and Boston jazz/death/doom band Ehnahre.

WE'RE WEARING

Clara Kraetsch and Doreen Schulz are the designers behind the hot Berlin design label C-Neeon, which hit hard onto the fashion radar after winning the Young Designers competition at the Hyeres Festival. Read more