ESCAPE ARTIST: NEW BANKSY STREET ART DEPICTS MAN SCALING PRISON WALL IN U.K.
. . . Banksy recently painted this stencil street art work on the wall of Reading Prison, in the U.K. The artwork depicts a prisoner scaling down the prison wall in an effort to escape. His rope is a long strip of paper connected to an old-fashioned typewriter dangling below.Continue Reading
MARK THE SPOT!: EPIC, SPRAWLING “DESERT X” CONTEMPORARY ART EVENT RETURNS TO THE COACHELLA VALLEY!
It’s back! And we are so very happy to see it! Desert X has returned. What’s Desert X? It’s the biennial contemporary art exhibition that dots the desert landscape and communities of the Coachella Valley with massive site-specific installation artworks. The art event, now in its third running, is centeredContinue Reading
REMOTE CONTROL: AWESOME ONE-TAKE P.O.V. VIDEO OF DRONE FLY-THROUGH OF A BOWLING ALLEY!
. . . . . You’ll want to watch this video at least a couple of times. This well-choreographed and tightly piloted drone footage through a Minneapolis bowling alley called Bryant Lake was shot in a single take. Awesome.
ABOUT FACE: MASKS OF THE WORLD, UNMASKED!
. . . . . “Beyond Noh” is short documentary film by Patrick Smith that dives into the subject of masks. The movie shows off 3,475 different masks from around the globe. The video here is an excerpt from the film. The masks are from vastly different cultures, ancient andContinue Reading
NIFTY!: DIGITAL N.F.T. ARTWORK SOLD FOR $69 MILLION AT AUCTION! JAWS DROP!
In a groundbreaking auction sale a digital artwork in the form of a JPG file as non-fungible token (or NFT) sold at Christies for $69 million Thursday. The artwork is by the artist known as Beeple. The artwork is titled “Everydays — The First 5000 Days” and is a collageContinue Reading
HOME RUN: ARTISTS COMMISSIONED TO RE-IMAGINE ICONIC BASEBALL CARDS!
The Topps chewing gum and baseball card company has launched Project 70 to celebrate seventy years of producing annual baseball card collections. For the project Topps commissioned 51 artists and creators to design a limited-edition set of cards. We usually don’t follow sports closely (except maybe for European soccer andContinue Reading
WHAT PARTY?: FIRST MAJOR KAWS RETROSPECTIVE OPENS IN BROOKLYN!
The New York Times has published a review of the new KAWS exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. KAWS is the moniker of New York-based artist Brian Donnelly. The show is titled “KAWS: What Party.” It is, as the Times describes it, “a fast and tight survey of Donnelly’sContinue Reading
A NEW FONT FOR OUR TIME: “CLIMATE CRISIS” TYPEFACE REFLECTS REAL-TIME CLIMATE-CHANGE DATA!
A newspaper in Finland has launched a new variable font called “Climate Crisis.” The font was designed to reflect the environmental changes wrought by global warming, such as rising sea levels. What makes the font unique is that the typeface weight changes based on updated real-time information from the NationalContinue Reading
WHAT DA FUNK? FAMOUSLY UN-FAMOUS FRENCH DUO DAFT PUNK SPLIT UP!
. . . . . Daft Punk has split up. Has ended things. Called it quits. Called it a day. Broken up. Turned off the lights. Disbanded. Bid adieu. Said farewell. Are now officially defunct. (Or should that “de-funked”?) “Say it isn’t so!” we hear you exclaim in a despondent,Continue Reading
“PRETEND IT’S A CITY”: WHY MARTIN SCORSESE’S NETFLIX SERIES WITH FRAN LIEBOWITZ IS MUST-SEE TV!
Netflix’s “Pretend It’s a City” takes its title from a remark by Fran Liebowitz. It’s a command to the tourists who slowly walk down the crowded sidewalks of Manhattan, jamming up pedestrian traffic and frustrating New York locals who are otherwise in a hurry. It’s one of innumerable anecdotes fromContinue Reading
THE UNLIKELIEST ART STAR: HOW KAWS WENT FROM GRAFFITI-TAGGER TO GLOBAL ART WORLD MEGASTAR!
The New York Times has published an excellent profile of artist Brian Donnelly. Who is Brian Donnelly you ask? He’s the artist better known as KAWS. If you don’t know who he is, you may know his artwork. It seems to be everywhere these days. The rise of KAWS asContinue Reading
ADVENTURES IN AUDIO: BRILLIANT A CAPPELLA VERSIONS OF WINDOWS & iPHONE SOUND FX + SUPER MARIO BROS., TETRIS SOUNDTRACKS!
. . . . . This South Korean vocal group’s a cappella versions of Windows and iPhone sound effects and audio logos are absolutely brilliant, funny and beautiful. The group is called Maytree. Their repertoire includes performances of the start-up and shutdown sounds used on a Windows computer, as wellContinue Reading
FUZZY LOGIC: CULTURE OF MISAKI KAWAI!
Artist Misaki Kawai‘s current exhibition of new work at the Hole Gallery in New York City could at a brief glance easily be called “kawaii,” the Japanese word that means “cute” and connotes an entire culture (and myriad sub-cultures) that express the cute aesthetic. Its roots are from Japan, andContinue Reading
WORLDS COLLIDE: FILMMAKER WERNER HERZOG INTERVIEWED BY SKATEBOARDING MAGAZINE!
Skateboarding magazine Jenkem interviewed Werner Herzog. Yes, THAT Werner Herzog, the auteur German film director and actor whose directorial credits include Grizzly Man, Fitzcarraldo, and Rescue Dawn, among dozens of other fiction and documentary titles, and whose acting credits include roles in Jack Reacher and the Mandalorian, to name butContinue Reading
IN PASSING, IN MAKE OUT CITY: THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF IAN HOLWORTH
British photographer Ian Holworth‘s images remind us of the work of another photographer, William Eggleston, and the painter Edward Hopper. Holworth’s photos capture life and people in British coastal towns like Brighton, his home, and the mundane artifacts, romantic encounters and drab settings that establish the tone of the urbanContinue Reading
IN MOTION: OREGON TOURISM CAMPAIGN LOOKS LIKE A JAPANESE ANIME FILM!
. . . . . Travel Oregon‘s newest campaign promoting tourism to the state includes an animated commercial that’s a dead ringer for a magical and epic anime film from Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli production company. The ad is part of a campaign called “Only SlightlyContinue Reading
FLAKEY: WEB-BASED SNOWFLAKE GENERATOR IS SUBLIME (AMONG OTHER THINGS)!
Here’s a fun way to wile away a couple of hours. The Snowflake Generator is the awesome work of California-based artist and game designer Vivian Wu. It’s sublime. And fun! Happy Friday!
BEACH GRIT: THE CINEMATIC ART, MUSIC, SURFING AND LAUGHS OF “FREE SCRUBBER”!
. . . Regular readers of Global Graphica will know that among our many passions is surfing. (Or is it more of vice?) We surf every chance we get. And we try to watch as many surf films and edits as we can. But there’s so much content out there,Continue Reading
FORCE BE WITH YOU: U.S. POST OFFICE ISSUES STAMPS CELEBRATING “STARS WARS” ANDROIDS!
The United States Postal Service has announced that this spring they will be issuing a new series of stamps featuring the androids from the Star Wars films, including C3PO and R2D2. It’s a big nod to one of the greatest and longest-running cinematic franchises in motion picture history, one thatContinue Reading
EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES: ENOUGH WITH THE BUNDLED-UP BERNIE MEME ALREADY!
It was brilliant and funny for the first 24 -48 hours. The meme of U.S. Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders based on an image of him sitting alone in a folding chair in his casual puffy winter coat and knitted mittens, legs crossed, arms folded, pandemic mask on,Continue Reading