Big Country on Top Of The Pops

WE'RE SUPPORTING

Philip Hall studied illustration at Central Saint Martins, where he would often do very quick pictures in the space of minutes. Of his work, he says: ‘I work in a low tech way, which is when I realized that play within my work was very important to me. It’s often the catalyst for me, I find it inspiring, the possibility of what could be. More recently, I have started to do more detailed drawings, as I would like to sharpen my observation skills’. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

This mini-museum is right next to that shining fortress of New York’s MOMA and always has interesting shows, is never crowded, and the works are sure to inspire you. The Folk Art Museum is best known for putting now-popular outsider artist Henry Darger under a huge spotlight. And they’re showing some of his masterpieces yet again. Don’t miss it! Read more

WE'RE WEARING

Converse kicks off its hundredth anniversary with 1HUND(RED), a special artist series with proceeds going to the Global Fund. The project is a year-long release of shoes designed by notable artists, including Auckland-based illustrator, Dennis Juan Ma, whose shoe [above] is number twenty in the series.

WE'RE THINKING

Zaha Hadid has been announced as the winning architect for the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, Vilnius, Lithuania. As with the rest of the Guggenheim Museums, the architectural boundaries are pushed. Zaha lets loose with her fluid, energetic architecture and has subsequently deemed the building to be the manifestation of the city’s new cultural significance. One wonders which is the next city that requires a Guggenheim shot in the arm?

WE'RE READING

Illustrator and artist John Malloy has been working on a graphic novel called Channel One and, without wanting to sound too much like Paris Hilton, it’s looking pretty damn hot. Update! As of July 2009, John Malloy has aborted the graphic novel Channel One to focus more on other projects, including his autobiographical graphic novel, Queasy. Stay tuned for details. Read more

Sufjan Stevens creates autistic music for introverts — soft, shy, naive, full of shadows, windows, and insecurities. Yet it all sounds slightly forced, his enigmatic songwriting as comforting as it is unsettling.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Last weekend I went to the Golden West in Baltimore to check out the What Cheer? Brigade, a marching band from Providence. I wasn’t expecting much, but when they opened with a cover of Slayer’s Raining Blood, my knees buckled. I think I could hear a musak version of that riff, and I’d still bang my head. The rest of the band’s set was just as riotous, with people dancing so hard, you’d think we were at Mardi Gras. I haven’t had that much fun at a show in ages.