Ed Schrader

WE'RE SUPPORTING

For the longest time I was an enormous admirer of the loopy, distinct line drawings of Brooklyn-illustrator Matt Hollister. Having seemingly lost track of his work for a couple of years (who knows how that manages to happen), I was shocked to stumble across his work yet again recently while perusing the New York Times. I had to check out his website immediately, and from there I wandered into his blog. The best part was that you could almost watch a new style emerge chronologically, beginning with the old drawings and then a small experiment, a mono print and then, more and more, mono prints and experiments, less and less loopy drawings. Even the subject matter seems to have changed and become much quirkier to accommodate the new style. I’m certainly feeling that staying abreast of Hollister’s work should now prove pretty inescapable.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

A project that has been a pioneer of the revitalization of downtown Kansas City, this building’s goal was to promote the Central Library as well as represent the city itself. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

I’m not a watch wearer, but if I was, then I’d be rocking the wickedly cool new range of Diesel timepieces. The Basel 2008 collection is a sparkling, futuristic, retrotastic anagram of style, character and precision — of the digital variety. My favorite? The 1980s-themed watch above, with its ’silver metallic leather cuff’ and ‘reflective shine’. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

Brooklyn-born and based, Jean-Michel Basquiat was the first African American artist to be feted internationally for his dynamic and exciting street-art style, which mixed elements of inner-city graffiti with vibrant figurative modernism. Read more

WE'RE READING

Vintage Kids Books My Kid Loves is a great resource for people looking for gift ideas or simply for those who dig the artwork in out-of-print and esoteric children’s books from years past. The author provides reviews from the perspective of a parent, not merely a hobbyist.

I remember the first time I saw a Mark Rothko piece at the Art Institute in Chicago. I’d only seen reproductions until that point, and I never understood why people considered the late painter so important. Read more

WE'RE LISTENING TO

‘I have been trying to go with my whims. Fuck it, let’s make an iPod album’. This statement from Team Genius leader Drew Hermiller was the jumping off point in the creation of the band’s debut self-titled full-length album, one of the most interesting and eclectic pop records of the year. ‘Basically it’s a reaction to the modern way music is consumed and listened to’, Hermiller says. ‘The idea of an album with a focused sound and a complete statement kind of gets lost now-a-days. Everyone shuffles around, so I thought “why not write an album that does the same thing?” Luckily, the band did an awesome job of keeping up with it’. Download a couple of free tracks off the album in our Music Download section [pssst, it's in the third column of the site]