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Posts tagged with San Francisco

October 16, 2009 | New Trends | by Caitlin Zaino |

Tweet this: Twitter is launching its own wine label. And that took only 41 characters. Now for the story behind it all. In an effort to help make a positive impact, Twitter says, they’ve teamed up with San Francisco-based non-profit Room to Read, which helps brings libraries and literacy to the world’s poorest countries. Read more

September 30, 2009 | New Design | by Patience Hobson Highly recommended by the LAEM team. |

I love the male-female Lab Partners art and design team out of San Francisco. I have two of their pieces at home, which I purchased from the Outre Gallery in Melbourne. They are responsible for some of the most heart-warming, 50s styled, Gocco prints I’ve seen. Read more

August 25, 2009 | New Music | by Casper Johansson |

The latest release from the Kronos Quartet, entitled Floodplain, contains works written for them by composers from Palestine and Serbia, traditional works from Lebanon, Turkey and Iran, Azerbaijan and India, and popular music from 1940s Egypt and 1970s Iraq. We checked in with them and asked about the music that inspired the latest recordings. They started with the Omar Souleyman song, Dabke 2020 [listen below]: ‘I’ve always been a fan of wild singers, and Omar Souleyman more than qualifies. The label Sublime Frequencies releases some wonderful CDs and Dabke 2020 is one of my favorites. What a vital sound. Distortion rules!’ Read the rest of Kronos Quartet’s Secret Playlist.

August 18, 2009 | New Music | There's audio in this post. by Gerry Mak |

I caught Grayceon from San Francisco a week or so ago in Chicago. I hadn’t heard of them before, but they were really fantastic. The trio has roots in metal, but manage to take things in a more melodic, progressive direction without sacrificing heaviness. Their complex arrangements shift between languid, cello-driven segments to riff-heavy parts complete with double bass drums. Cellist Jackie Perez Gratz’ operatic vocal lines in conjunction with guitarist Max Doyle’s monk-like baritone up the chamber-music feel of their sound, but they still hit the right spots to get people headbanging.

July 11, 2009 | New Illustration | by Lost At E Minor |

Theo Ellsworth makes obsessively detailed drawings and self-publishes comics, mini comics, and zines about imaginary people and places. The cosmic imagery, subtle geometry, and implied animism in his works recall the epic, heroic, and odd imagery of Jean ‘Moebius’ Girard, Mayan ruins, and the Nazca lines, filtered through the jam-packed and often psychedelic lens of underground comix from the 70s. For Imaginary Friends, at San Francisco’s GRSF Gallery, Ellsworth is making 30 pieces using pen and ink, colored pencil, and watercolor. A quarter of them will be woodcuts. According to the artist, recurring themes include but are not limited to ‘parades of monsters, people made of leaves, scaled and antlered beasts, flying machines, complicated structures, and dreams’. The show runs between July 18 and August 19.

June 29, 2009 | New Illustration | by Gerry Mak |

I’m totally digging Andrew Schoultz’s dense line-work and limited palette. The San Francisco-based artist deals with political and social issues, but isn’t overtly a topical artist — the textures he achieves are similar to what I strive for in my own work. Read more

June 8, 2009 | New Food and Packaging | by Caitlin Zaino |

Who doesn’t love a good doughnut? Not that lead-in-your-stomach, greasy kind of treat, but the fresh, flavorful, and soft sort of sweet. And if you’re lucky enough to find yourself near San Francisco, then stop into the legendary Dynamo Donuts. Dynamo is not so much a proper boutique doughnut shop — though there are plans — as opposed to a stand in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood. Read more

June 6, 2009 | New Events | by Casper Johansson |

The Infectious design community creates cool device skins, adhesive wall art, and car decals, using the talents of artists such as Dalek, Tara McPherson, Shag and Junko Mizuno, among many others. To celebrate their new status as the home for Skate Deck Design Community, Popdeck, they are currently holding a contest to design the first five decks to be added to the Infectious catalog. There’s no theme and first place prize wins a recession-friendly $1000. Sweet. Read more

January 29, 2009 | New Photography | by Alison Zavos |

We checked in with Los Angeles-based photographer, Matthew Scott, and asked him how his recent move from San Francisco has impacted on his career: ‘Work-wise, it’s been a very positive move. There’s a lot more going on down here, not that San Francisco doesn’t have things going on as well. It’s just a simple fact about the size of Los Angeles. There’s a lot more editorial assignments to shoot here, and that has been good’. Read more

January 29, 2009 | New Illustration | by Ilana Kohn |

San Francisco illustrator Caitlin Kuhwald’s cleanly rendered paintings really hit the figurative spot. It’s so refreshing to come across an illustrator who still gets kicks from beautifully rendering a face, every strand of hair, every wrinkle in their clothing, and then turn around and subvert it all with a big bag of creative tricks. Read more

  • caitlin kuhwald
  • caitlin kuhwald

December 29, 2008 | New Illustration | by Kate Barnett Highly recommended by the LAEM team. |

Described as being ‘familiar, yet horribly unique and fresh’, San Francisco-based artist Matthew Palladino creates portraits of American life that are inspired by current media events. The often raw and violent subject matter is diffused by a flat drawing style that draws upon folk references and early mission school artists. Read more

  • matthew palladino
  • matthew palladino
  • matthew palladino

December 20, 2008 | New Art | by Zolton Highly recommended by the LAEM team. |

Artist Liz Hickok has created stunning representations of San Francisco entirely out of Jello-O. ‘I make the landscapes by constructing scale models of the architectural elements which I use to make molds’, she says. ‘I then cast the buildings in Jell-O. Similar to making a movie set, I add backdrops, which I often paint, and elements such as mountains or trees, and then I dramatically light the scenes from the back or underneath. The Jell-O sculptures quickly decay, leaving the photographs and video as the remains’. Read more

August 12, 2008 | New Illustration | by Ilana Kohn |

San Francisco artist Matthew Palladino’s work is on my obsessive website viewing rotation. His colourful, clean, folksy images have got me, though I must say that I’m not as drawn to some of his more overt examples of political subject matter as I am to his more personal, introverted images. Regardless, Palladino implements the most beautiful patterns and shapes with his watercolors. And I just can’t get enough. Read more

  • matthew palladino
  • matthew palladino

July 25, 2008 | New Film | There's video in this post. by Xavier Toby |

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

June 30, 2008 | New Photography | This post contains an interview. by Alison Zavos |

There is a tragic beauty and innocence about Nicholas Haggard’s portraits of his San Francisco friends. We interviewed him recently about his inspirations and his three favorite props. Read more

 

I love the deep sense of mystique and other-worldliness that resonates through Bill Carman’s artwork. Of his creative process, he says: ‘Things seem to crawl from my brain, through a sketchbook, and end up on some beautiful surface. I am an image maker who illustrates, draws, and paints’. Read more


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Several years after they disbanded, one of indie rock’s brightest sparks — Ambulance Ltd — are back. Read more

Personally, I think it’s difficult for family photos to not be a bit stilted and weird, but Awkward Family Photos manages to post truly baffling images of badly dressed, strangely posed, and generally weird-looking clans as they wish to be remembered. Read more


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Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut is an award-winning designer with varied projects. This one, entitled The Lilypad, is nothing short of amazing. It’s an eco-city, floating on water, with the ability to accommodate upwards of 50,000 people. If built as designed, this structure (which uses most, if not all, available environmental technologies) would sustainably produce more power than it would consume.

Says Van She bassist and vocalist Matt Van Schie about the Bush Tetras track — Too Many Creeps — from 1982: ‘I LOOOVE this tune. It opens with a perfect snare roll, and then the counter bass and guitar rhythms make it so cool. The lyrics are even more valid today. They’re one of my favourite bands of all time, and so many people try to do what they did for real. What a time! I wish I was born back then in New York, hanging out with these kids. Ahhhh!!’

We love the vivid colours in the Freak La Notte range of t-shirts. The French label’s collection of shirts are like little canvases of super-styled surrealism – bold, elegant, and enchanting.

We invited Greg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, who aside from being the DJ of the moment is also the remix whiz behind tracks from Beck, Tokyo Police Club, and Grizzly Bear, to give us a rundown on the songs he’s wearing out right now for our sister site, My Secret Playlist. He started off by propping Beyonce’s anthemic single, Single Ladies [listen below]. Go figure! ‘This is one of my favorite Beyonce tracks ever. It has so much energy, and the chorus gets dark in a great way. The clapping never stops. The video is a flawless execution of a performance style clip. It’s perfect’. Read the rest of Girl Talk’s Secret Playlist.

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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

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Paolo Ventura

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

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1970s and 80s Soviet Union buildings

Cambodian born photographer Frederic Chaubin is the editor of French magazine Citizen K. His photo series on bizarre buildings built in the former Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s is absolutely fascinating. Read more

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Almanac Market

Almanac Market in Philadelphia is slightly pricey, but you definitely get what you pay for. Offering fantastic bread, cheeses, produce, and cured meats such as sopressata and pepperoni, it was a great pit stop when my band played in town, and definitely more economical and tasty than hitting a greasy spoon for road snacks.

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Creative cupcake design

Yum, yum, cupcakes are fun. These creations are so clever, so arty, so damn bizarre that it would almost be a shame to eat them. Almost! Read more


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Wolfmother. Rock n roll. Mystical lyrics. Heavy riffs. They have a new album out, Cosmic Egg, and we have five copies to giveaway, along with their debut album. To enter, tell us your favorite Wolfmother song and the city you live in. Yo! Two fingered salute. Read more

In Wish Upon a Star, this giclee print on archival paper, Yuta Onoda gives us his take on the Mario Bros for the fourth installment of the I Am 8-bit exhibition. This print comes in a limited edition run of just 30. Read more

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