
Skinner
I can’t wait until artists like Sacramento-based Skinner are commissioned to design candy packaging or toys or children’s bed sheets. As gruesome and completely insane as some of his images are, I would have stared at them for hours when I was ten. Hell, I’m staring at them for hours now.


Tagged: candy packaging, Sacramento, Skinner, toys
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Harma Heikens makes disturbing, perverted mash-ups of children’s toys, dolls, and figurines — all life-sized for extra creepiness Read more

There’s some fun, environmentally friendly toys and cards on the Hoopla website, a new gift company based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. They get most of their goodies produced in New England and always use recycled and reusable materials. We asked co-founder Hannah Lavon to tell us about the philosophy behind the business: ‘Our mission is simply to enjoy the fun-ner things in life. We make products that you just can’t help but laugh at — and with. We strive to make even the grumpiest old grump show us those teeth. Or at least those gums. Or dentures. Dentures are definitely funner. Lots of fizzing water glasses and they double as castanets. Light bulb! We feel a new product line coming on …’

When it comes to toys, these guys really know what they’re doing. Playsam is one of my favorite toy companies. They’re based in Sweden and they make extremely polished, minimal toys for children. Their designs are classic and extremely expensive, but well worth it. When I have kids, I’ll spoil them with these.
Also by GERRY MAK

Luke Butler’s Enterprise series
My roommate is on a big Star Trek kick, re-watching the entire original series. I forgot how amazing and progressive and ahead-of-its-time it was. Actually, Star Trek: the Next Generation is also just as good. Hopefully Luke Butler will paint images from that series next or superimpose Captain Picard’s head on a nude body of Adonis. Read more
Tom Fun Orchestra’s Bottom of the River
This video for Nova Scotian gypsy folk-punk ensemble Tom Fun Orchestra is so effectively simple, matching the imagery to the song perfectly.

Cheeming Boey’s coffee cup art
California-based artist Cheeming Boey makes super-wowza drawings on styrofoam coffee cups. He also keeps a web comic documenting his daily life that is at times hilarious at others rather touching. He reminds me of my friend Jon from high school. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (2)
Lyoko said | 12 October, 2009
I like it!
HAVE YOUR SAY
Iraqi-American artist Wafaa Bilal spent an entire month living in a Chicago art gallery where he had rigged a webcam and remote controlled paintball gun which visitors online or at the actual gallery could use to shoot at him. The piece highlighted the danger everyday Iraqi citizens face both in terms of actual violence and the vitriol generated by the controversial and geopolitically convoluted war. The experience re-triggered the post-traumatic stress disorder that Bilal had acquired in his home country. The installation as well as his life as an activist, artist, and refugee are documented in his book, Shoot An Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun.
As part of the Robin Hood Foundation, a charity organization whose mission it is to fight poverty in New York City, Lost At E Minor contributor and in-demand illustrator in her own right, Yuko Shimizu — in collaboration with designer Stefan Sagmeister — recently completed an eleven panel mural at PS96 in The Bronx. Read more
Cool name, even cooler clothes. Apparently Karen Walker isn’t the only good thing about New Zealand’s fashion scene. There’s also Jason Gitmans (of Gitmans Knitwear) and Kylee Davis of The Stitch Ministry. Read more
Back before The Beatles became the iconic poster-group of the free-spirited generation, they had a catchphrase that they would rally around as they struggled from club to club on the tough German circuit. This was in the early 1960s, before their star had risen and well before Sgt Pepper’s was even a twinkle in their eyes. Read more
Photoshop Disasters posts some of the most atrocious acts of Photoshop ever committed. It’s amazing how many horrible shop jobs make it to print. Read more
The issue of abortion has hardly ever been represented so honestly by a movie. Knocked Up and Juno gave the pro-choice movement a boost, and of those two, only Juno came close to confronting the issue. In the Princess of Nebraska, the main character suffers through indecision, naivety and turmoil that seem much closer to reality. Read more
I live the upbeat, feel good tempo of the new single — A Hundred Hearts — from Philly group, The Swimmers. Off their latest album, People Are Soft, this song is a strangely fitting anthem for the blustery day outside.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST

Charlie Immer’s pastel-pallete sometimes obfuscates the gory violence in his surreal images. At other times, it heightens the gut-wrenching and visceral effect of his work. Read more

Trip out with Sparrow Vs Sparrow’s retro illustrations, I love their aesthetic, color use and sense of humor. Read more

Karen Caldicott’s clay head models
British born, New York-based model maker Karen Caldicott has been making clay heads for all major US publications over the last decade. Read more

Amazing cake designs by Charm City Cakes
Baltimore company Charm City Cakes produces the most innovative wedding and party cakes on the market. Inspiration for these creative bakers comes from everywhere: art, fabric, furniture, architecture, landscapes, science, and music, and each cake is individually designed to match your personality, and the theme of the occasion you are celebrating. Don’t miss these cakey engineering masterpieces. Read more

Italian-born, New York City-based photographer Paolo Ventura creates fairy-tale like pictures out of amazingly constructed, miniature dioramas that almost trick the eye into thinking he’s a tilt-shift photographer. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
Fragile Vases is a new collection of vases made from recycled materials by Itunube. All parts have been carefully selected and put together, so each vase is totally unique. So now it’s possible to give a second chance to old pieces instead of throwing them into the trash. We have a selection of these vases for sale in the Lost At E Minor store for just US$85. Read more
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Andy Howell said | 10 September, 2009
Congratulations on all your recent exhibitions and projects, Skinner! You are an amazing talent and the world deserves to feel the blade, I mean brush, of Skinner!