Dutch artist Ron van der Ende beautifully transforms pieces of found wood into inventive examples of bas-relief, creating sculptures that span the traditional church to a Nascar Charger. Van der Ende displays his labor-intensive works in a new solo show, "A Shallow Wade," currently on exhibit at Seattle's Ambach & Rice gallery through 2 May 2010.

Exploring a "fractured American consciousness," works included in the show demonstrate the Rotterdam-based artist's concern for the disparate messages emanated by U.S. culture. For example, "Shotgun Shack Row" portrays an aerial view of houses from New Orleans' Ninth Ward, one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. Seemingly viewed from a helicopter, the contorted angle reminds his audience that parts of the country still experience dread while others prosper, like in works such as "Taylor/Burton."

A giant diamond constructed from hundreds of small pieces of salvaged wood and painted to reflect the myriad angles of the massive gem Richard Burton gave Elizabeth Taylor in the late '60s, "Taylor/Burton" represents the excessive nature of America's upper class. Eventually the bauble sold for over $1million, an idea that Van der Ende's sculpture calls into question with the humble materials pointing out the absurdity of spending such a lavish amount of money on such a frivolous item.

Ironically, Van der Ende's "On Re-Entry" depicts a giant log with glowing embers beneath its charred surface, again created from recovered pieces of wood. Like the rest of his works, the log is comprised of copious amounts of thin veneers pieced together onto plywood for an overall stunningly complex relief.

For the past eight years ArtSite Projects curator Kara Walker-Tome has been transforming a section of West Palm Beach, FL's Hotel Biba into an annual art event. Aptly named, Showtel turns hotel rooms into conceptual installations by challenging artists fill the spaces with everything from sculpture and performance art, without using the use of nails or adhesives. We recently had the chance to speak with Walker-Tome, who shed light on this clever exhibition.

How did you originally come up with the idea for this kind of site-specific show?

When I moved to Florida after having lived in Los Angeles and New York, I was involved in the local art scenes of these metropolitan cities and I could not find an alternative art scene to speak of in Palm Beach County. I had been impressed and inspired many times in the past by installation shows in unique settings in LA and NY and I recognized that my new area was wide open for making a mark with an alternative art happening. So, I decided to put together a one-night show for local emerging cutting-edge artists in a hotel. Lucky for me the first one I approached said yes. That was eight years ago. So Showtel started as a small happening with a handful of artists and maybe a couple hundred people attended. Last year's seventh annual show featured twenty-five artists and attracted 2,000 people in one night.

Why a hotel? How does that environment influence the artists?

I think the strict rules in place for installing Showtel installations in a working hotel accounts for incredible ingenuity. Essentially they have to put up and then take down their work as if they had never been in the room in the first place. The amazing thing is that they manage to come up with clever solutions and create visually intense environments whereby the whole room is engaged.

How do you know that the idea will work in the show?

Curating from ideas is an acquired skill. I am choosing work that has not been created yet so I have to be able to visualize their concept and plan. I believe that ability comes from my initial training as an artist myself. I received an MA in fine arts from CalArts and then also have spent years reading hundreds of proposals, working closely with artists in the development and creation of their work, and finally—a bit of intuition!

Who are some of the artists participating this year? What will they be creating?

I am quite excited this year to be working with artists from all over the state of Florida and even one coming from out of state. Showtel has traditionally attracted artists living close to Palm Beach County, but now artists from Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa and Gainesville are applying and getting accepted into the show. I hope it continues to expand nationally.

I can give you a handful of teasers about the pieces planned for this year. There will be a mythical forest, a wormhole grow room, a lunar/meteor space, a scene from a world populated only by sloths and unicorns and five of the installations will involve performance. It is going to be a very intense and dynamic show!

This year Shotel runs from 8-10 April. Read more about some of Walker-Tome's favorite Showtel installations she's seen over the past eight years after the jump. (Pictured above in order of appearance.)

Photos by Jacek Gancarz

Picture 1: Installation by Halie Ezratty, Showtel 2008

The overtly handmade quality of these soft sculpture monsters, existing in this faux natural world made for a great aesthetic that had humor in it too. One of the monsters actually was a costume for a person who was walking around the room interacting with people. The concept was about corporations turning into huge monsters that are taking over the environment, so it made a statement to think about as well.

Picture 2: Installation by Christian Diaz, Showtel 2005

This was such an effective piece both visually and psychologically and the artist was the first to make false walls (out of fabric) so he could create the uniform grid of string which was ingenious.

Picture 3: Installation by Lauren Jacobson and Cristina Sierra, Showtel 2006

This installation was like stepping into a surreal dream and it smelled like bubble gum too! The graphics on the walls and floor reference the packaging of "Hubba Bubba" gum and the artists found a brand of gum that the pieces looked like tiny colorful square sculptures. There was a huge pile of gum on the bed that dwindled throughout the night as people were allowed to take and chew one! The installation truly engaged all of one's senses.

Picture 4: Installation by Bradley Lezo and Denise Moody-Tackley, Showtel 2008

This is an actual bedroom sunken in the pool, complete with a tray of food on the bed, an area rug, lights that worked and even a TV that appeared to be on. It was an amazing feat and one of the most memorable pieces in the history of Showtel.

The upcoming exhibition "Portraits de Villes," at Paris' Galerie Philippe Chaume, features the photographic city narratives from the pages of Be-Pôles' petite travel notebooks.

The show celebrates the launch of the third series of City Portraits by Parisian studio Be-Pôles, this year adding Moscow, NYC, Beijing and Sarajevo to the collection. Shot by contemporary fashion photographers Harry Gruyaert and Steve Hiett, Paris-based artist Artus de Lavilléon, and former Swedish fashion model Lina Scheynius respectively, the notebooks reflect the perspectives of a carefully selected group on the cities they discovered.

Originally created for the brand's own pleasure, Be-Pôles artistic director Clémentine Larroumet explains the City Portraits are "nothing more than the intuitive path of an artist in the city."

Portraits de Villes runs from 26 March to 15 May 2010. City Portraits sell from online as well as in Opening Ceremony stores around the U.S. and at other select locations.

Atlanta's High Museum of Art explores the bespoke car as a work of art in the exhibit "The Allure of the Automobile" that opened this past weekend. Known for its strong decorative arts content, the museum celebrates the one-of-a-kind European and American cars of the 20th century for their fine forms as well as their historical significance.

Each of the eighteen cars in the show—ranging from the opulent Depression era 1933 Pierce Arrow Silver Arrow and the 1937 Delage D8-120s to icons such as the 1961 Ferrari 250 Short-Wheelbase Berlinetta SEFAC Hot Rod and the 1959 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray—put the emphasis on craftsmanship and detailed styling, divided into pre- and post-World War II categories. Porsche contributed the rare 1938/39 Porsche Type 64 to the exhibit, which marks the first occasion that the shell of that lustrous Porsche body has left Germany. "This exhibit isn't about cars," said Michael Bartsch, vice president and COO of Porsche.

Design relevance and automotive pedigree come together to illustrate the evolved styling of elite street and concept cars. Guest curator Ken Gross, an automotive historian and former director of Peterson Automotive Museum, contributes extensive background on each car and provides fodder for car enthusiast attendees. While the High's Curator of Decorative Art and Design, Ron Laboco, isn't a car expert, he instead approaches the cars in the exhibit as singular works of art. "It's about what denotes a car as a masterpiece," said Labaco. "It's a direct connection between decorative arts. You can compare them with Faberge Eggs."

The Allure of The Automobile runs through 20 June 2010.

To help kids understand the story of Passover—one of the more popular holidays for Jews and non-Jews alike because of its humanitarian message of social justice and peace—Francine Hermaline and her husband Adam Levite created "My Haggadah: Made it Myself." The 48-page book speaks in a language that both children and adults can relate to about the meaning behind Passover and its inaugural feast, the Seder.

Haggadah, the special prayer book for Passover and usually a historic text, often seems like a tedious read to children. The Levites, who run motion picture and print design studio Associates in Science, were having trouble finding a book that matched both their aesthetic and spiritual sensibilities, so for the past seven years Francine has been making a Haggadah for her family and friends in Lower Manhattan. With the help of her kids and other kids from the community, it has slowly turned into a full book for kids aged four to 10. This year the family made the book available for free as a downloadable PDF file, or you can purchase a print version online.

Francine explained to CH, "The goal for 'My Haggadah: Made it Myself' is for the kids to put themselves in the story and wrestle with the topics with their parents. Every year I step it up a bit more, and this year I wanted to make it more widely available." Through her blog kids can download new pages to create and post their work for others to see. Francine plans to create theme days such as "Plague Day" or "Question 5: What's On Your Mind." With traditions that have evolved over the course of numerous years, she has only yet to "scratch the surface" on a Haggadah that the whole family can enjoy together.

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Currently on display at L.A.'s Carmichael Gallery, Nina Pandolfo's "Life's Flavor" marks the first solo show for the successful contemporary street artist. Known for depicting wide-eyed, stocking-clad girls, the Brazilian explains that the title of the show reflects her view on life, "sometimes it is sweet and some times it is spicy and sometimes a combination of the two."

Sculptures and paintings of the girls, often wearing little more than Brazilian-cut underwear and knee-highs, with their cute kitties, dolls, toys, jelly beans and hot peppers float and fly through the gallery space. Pandolfo described to CH how she purposefully sequenced four paintings together to tell the story of a special world where "everything is possible—it can even rain fish!"

In the first piece a girl looks out of a cuckoo clock window as she eats red hot chili peppers with little fairies hovering, while in the next, another girl falls downward surrounded by dolls, cats and fairies as she tries to catch the cuckoo clock. Following that, a canvas shows two girls lying on a cushion eating candy, watching as the second girl falls past them. The last painting depicts two girls getting dolled-up with some familiar socks peeking out from the edge.

Seeing Pandolfo's work in person reveals many little details and textures that don't show up in photos. Using spray paint as a base, she creates richly-detailed images that have the effect of water colors, pencils, glitter, jewelry and even appliqué—seriously magical art.

Life's Flavor runs through 18 April 2010.

Rarely does an ad campaign manage to inspire us, but the cheeky message speaks to an generally ignored idea that drives some of the best ideas. The pursuit of a "regret-free life" results in incredible stories, endless possibilities, and an overall a brave spirit that doesn't stop dreaming.

Transforming the Velvet Speakeasy in Montreal's Old Port into a candlelit temple of worship embellished with gold walls and paintings, Kevin Ledo's mash-ups of religious imagery and fashion photography (previously covered here when it premiered in 2008) launches the first in a series of events christened "Velvet Renaissance." Featuring work from the local artist's series "The Guiding Light," Ledo draws parallels between luxury fashion institutions and the symbolic worship of Medieval religious authorities with works bearing such tongue-in-cheek titles as "The Grace of Saint Calvin Klein," "The Fall of Saint Prada" and "Saint Alberta Ferretti of Milan."

Yesterday's opening night turned the space into a multi-sensory experience with DJ Milton Clark lending eerie ambiance to Ledo's works.

A monthly event, Velvet Renaissance invites a selected artist to showcase their craft using the Velvet Speakeasy as a canvas. The title of the event implies an underlying theme arts that echo that of the Italian Renaissance.

Not just limited to fine art, the line-up will also include graphic and fashion designers, as well as tattoo and audio artists. Following Ledo's show, local designer Jean-François Proulx will unveil the "Velvet Book," a quarterly publication and calendar, as well as the new Velvet graphic identity. The exhibit runs through 18 April 2010.

Photographer Ross Evertson's 2007 trip to The Great Western Alpaca Show highlights the strangely fuzzy annual springtime exhibition, recently featured by Good Magazine. From shearing contests to best in show, the livestock-friendly fair finds a little something for every Alpaca lover.

Featuring their famous long hair, the Alpaca photo shoot takes a behind-the-scenes look at the largest Alpaca show west of the Mississippi. and continues to expand as Alpaca fleece becomes more popular. Known for its durability and environmental sustainability, clothing labels such as Rogan use Alpaca wool to create ultra-warm and eco-friendly attire.

Check out the full slide show, complete with Alpaca portraits, at Good Magazine.

Conceived around three readymade objects—a pulley, clamp or caster—design shop The Future Perfect is curating a show to take place during ICFF called "Lift Hold Roll." They're currently taking submissions of ideas that incorporate one (or multiples of one) of the useful devices in a piece.

The boutique will provide one of the objects of your choosing with the initial concept due 31 March 2010, including a rough sketch that shows how the pulley, clamp or caster will figure into the end result. Final pieces are due 1 May 2010. Send entries to kiel [at] thefutureperfect [dot] com.

Two artists separated by a continent—Ap Verheggen and Nasser Azam—recently completed independent climate-based projects, each using weather to indicate the outcome.

Verheggen, who calls Holland his home, installed the first in a series of four sculptures, which will all be placed in geographic areas undergoing severe climate changes (pictured above). Concerned that "climate change brings about cultural change," the pure iron sculpture represents a dogsled driver from the local Inuit community. A feed allows for remote viewing of the initial sculpture, located on an iceberg in Greenland, online from cool(E)motiontm until it eventually disappears into the sea. Following that, the artwork will be left to biodegrade or saved by the team, depending on if it's possible to recover without damaging the aquatic environment.

Born in Pakistan, London-based artist Nasser Azam's 13 large-scale paintings in Antarctica reflect the area's harsh tundra conditions. Using brushes, a canvas and paints specifically-designed for the severe cold, Azam created the works outside over the course of nine days, leaving each out overnight for an added abstract weather effect.

This isn't the first time the critically-acclaimed artist has ventured beyond the canvas. In 2008, Azam completed two triptychs while floating weightlessly aboard a parabolic aircraft in space.

NYC-based artist Christopher Chiappa's first solo show in eight years, "High Fructose Corn Syrup," boldly explores themes of cultural degradation, anxiety and industrialized sweeteners. Now on view at NYC's Kate Werble Gallery through 10 April 2010, the show includes a variety of media, including photography, sculpture and video to describe a personal narrative on the loss of innocence. Chiappa notes, "It's sort of all a big self-portrait somehow, from the obvious pieces that have me in them, to the other pieces that are more philosophical self-portraits. The over-arching connection for me, is me." ("I Always New It Would Come To This," 2010, pictured right)

A self-confessed Coke addict, Chiappa uses the brand's 1985 transition from cane sugar to high fructose corn syrup as a thematic foil to these personal explorations, noting, "It's kind of how I see history, the way things degrade. New rules get made, and the new norm always seems to be some sad reflection of the old norm." While the artist admits that equating himself with high fructose corn syrup is something of a self-annihilating strategy, the subsidized sweetener makes an apt symbol for the disappointments in life.

Chiappa obliterates the purity of a white gallery space, seemingly at odds with this theme, by sheathing the entire gallery in sheets of black plastic garbage bags to a somewhat shocking effect. Some works surge into view (like the highlighter-yellow "Cornball," a statement on America's corn gluttony), while others become dangerously hidden in plain sight (such as a sculpture of cartoonishly-sized ice skate blades). The latter piece—heavily laden with conflicting notions of violence and utility, aggression and poetic expression—heightens a creeping sense of dread brought on by the black plastic environs. Desensitized as we are to the endless parade of art today, the feeling is oddly refreshing.

Longtime CH fave, artist and designer Mike Perry’s new installation of prints, sculpture, and other objects opens at his Alma Mater, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, on 25 March 2010.

Including over 30 prints, a log sculpture with a small galaxy spilling from it, a mobile hanging down from the gallery's lofted ceiling, and many other surprises "inspired by memory, place, and the nature of the mind," the show promises plenty of Perry's vivid hues and hand-drawn aesthetic.

With Keith Haring's playful intensity, Perry's obsessively-rendered images—like hundreds of interconnected triangles or massive mobiles based on his designs—build a visual language full of geometric shapes, references to outer space and other fantastical imagery. (Click above image for detail.)

Besides an impressive artistic portfolio, typography work, and two popular books, Perry's also applied his signature look to an array of commercial work. Besides a camera, espresso machine and sunglasses, he revamped Eames' classic bucket chair with an intricate black-and-white pattern, and designed shoes and backpacks for Nike. Perry's latest endeavor is an artists' edition trash can for the Danish Vipp.

See his work for Vipp, along with a few sketches and other insights into his process, in the slide show below. To learn more about the show, check out the images he's been posting at the site he created for it.

As collectives go, the loosely-organized, street art-focused Barnstormers stand out as much for a global scope—they count chapters in New York and Tokyo—as for a growing roster that reads like a who's who of the genre. The group exhibit opening this Thursday, 18 March 2010 at Joshua Liner Gallery will feature the work of some 35 of these all-stars in a show that highlights each artist individually.

Swoon, David Ellis, Ryan McGinness, KR, Chris Mendoza, Kenji Hirata, Mike Ming, Doze Green and Maya Hayuk, to name a few, all will participate in the massive event which will include painting, video, printmaking, and other mediums.

The Barnstormers formed in 1999 after Ellis led 25 artists to the small town of Cameron in his native North Carolina to paint barns, tractor-trailers and farm equipment. Inspired by the initial collaborative energy, the clique continued working together with phenomenal synchronicity to construct large-scale murals that they describe as "motion paintings."

While they’ve exhibited as a group before at Cincinnati, OH's Contemporary Arts Center, the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico; The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, HI and North Carolina's Southeaster Center for Contemporary Art, this Group Exhibition marks the largest to date and the first to celebrate the solo careers of members who've made major strides in the past decade.

One of the most well-known of the bunch (who's lately been getting more attention for his weekly themed events), McGinnness will conduct his “Confessional Booth” via Skype at set hours from Spain where he's currently working. If this one wildly creative, post-Warhol example of Barnstormers work is any indication, we can say this show isn't to be missed.

With an all-star lineup and a truly meaningful objective, the online auction Crafts For A Cause keeps the spirit of helping Haiti alive with a host of tees, totes, guitars and other objects decorated by some our favorite creatives all up for bidding.

Initiated by L.A. native Binki Shapiro (of Little Joy fame), the benefit features goods decorated by fellow musicians, actors and artists alike. From a camera painted by Drew Barrymore (above left) to Daft Punk's toy robots (above right) and Rodarte sweatshirts signed by the sisterly duo (bottom), Crafts for a Cause mobilizes today's great cultural movers and shakers.

All proceeds from the auction will go to Artists for Peace and Justice, a Haiti-based humanitarian organization dedicated to "providing an education, hot meals, clean drinking water and regular medical treatments to the children living in the slums."

The auction opens 15 March 2010 at Bidding For Good, and ends 27 March 2010. Opening bids range from $15 to $5,000, making it accessible for most. Check out Crafts for a Cause to see photos of participants creating their pieces up for auction and see more of the items, including pieces by JD Samson and the Fleet Foxes, in the below slide show.

Sandrine Castellan

Raised in Aix-en-Provence, Montreal-based photographer Sandrine Castellan has been working her way around the camera since her grandfather gave her first one nearly 15 years ago. Castellan considers collaboration her "biggest thrill," finding inspiration in unexpected ideas and people but recognizes that it begins with a meticulously-selected team.

After switching her focus from still to motion pictures during college, Castellan returned to the medium upon graduation. She is continuously pushing herself, finding her most interesting project is "the next one."

Jonathan Waiter

Known for creating photos that show a model's vulnerability, Jonathan Waiter's stunning black-and white-images simultaneously reflect both sensitivity and empowerment. Intent on creating as visceral a feeling as possible, the Netherlands-based photographer's images are a raw interpretation of beauty.

Waiter essentially considers photography a predatory form that, by seizing the scene from reality, ultimately transforms the meaning.

David Aaron Morett

NYC-based photographer David Aaron Morett has been obsessed with taking pictures ever since the night a "guy named Hwa" gave him a "wonky old Nikon with a broken light meter."

The style of Henri Cartier-Bresson sparked Morett's interest in photography—making him determined to find those indescribably beautiful moments in time and "capture them like rare butterflies." After years assisting, printing and retouching, more recently Morett has become focused on the craft of photography, finding nuances in lighting techniques and well-conceived projects.

Red de Leon

Preferring an "invisible" style of photography, NYC-based Red de Leon successfully depicts models in awkward poses using understated lighting and simple framing. His contemplative nature shows up in each image, and, while he finds the industry limiting in regard to full creative potential, his resulting thought-provoking photographs are full of energy.

Inspired by Michael Haneke's film "The White Ribbon," de Leon regards transitional periods in history as a relevant interest. Concerned with highlighting essential human elements, he hopes to explore an anachronistic story that teaches him about "design, human nature, fashion and progress."

In a triumph of art, science and architecture, Argentine artist Tomás Saraceno's site-specific exhibit "14 Billion" scales a Black Widow's web up to magnificent proportions. Currently on display at Stockholm's Bonniers Konsthall, 14 Billion is an extension of the work he showed at the 2009 Venice Biennale called "Galaxy Forming along Filaments, like Droplets along the Strands of a Spider's Web."

The Frankfurt-based artist worked in collaboration with astrophysicists, architects, engineers and spider researchers to create a stimulating series of installations with 14 Billions as the focal point. A massive undertaking, the project took two years to complete with the black rope spanning 400 cubic meters, consuming much of Bonniers Konsthall main gallery.

Saraceno's work looks to scientific study which uses the imagery and structure of spider webs to map the origin and structure of the universe. Referencing these studies, the sculptural pieces explore the delicate balance between ourselves and the earth.

To compliment the installation, Saraceno also exhibits essays and research texts that reveal the development behind 14 Billions and other key pieces from the series, including "Garden/Air-Port-City/Iridescent" and "Cloudy House" among the 15 additional artworks.

While deeply philosophical and laden with scientific study, Saraceno softens the academia with interaction—encouraging viewers to participate with his discoveries. Nimble visitors can explore the web installation, while children and adults alike can create their own additions to his Cloudy House.

A fantastic exhibit—igniting the same level of curiosity which inspired it in the first place—the show remains on display through 20 June 2010.

Adding to Le Book's already impressive roster of artistic superstars, this year the New York edition of the influential publication tapped the work of late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe to "dress" their covers.

For a resource widely serving as the media maker's yellow pages, the inspirational choice draws on the instrumental role that the native New Yorker's highly technical images of nudes played in elevating photography to a major art form.

Embarking on its 28th year, Le Book isn't just a definitive reference, but compelling covers featuring works by the likes of Stephen Sprouse, YSL, Alaia, Hermés and others, has made it a collectible in its own right.

This year the massive book extends its brand to include a complimentary iPhone app dubbed Le Tag as an additional informative resource.

Get your copy of Le Book from their site for $250.

Breaking out of the conventional mold for successful athletes, snowboarder Travis Rice opened the online art gallery Asymbol early this year with a program of fine art featuring extra love for action sports. One of the most renowned and talented shredders around, Rice pushes the edge of possibility and sanity on the snow and now applies that same tactic to highlighting talented artists.

Created in collaboration with artist Mike Parillo, the Jackson Hole-based duo showcase selected artists in a limited-edition format.

Asymbol came about as an extended "thank you" to the many photographers and image-makers inspired by the sport, who in turn inspire the athletes. "The effort it takes to produce a picture worthy of hanging on a wall is humbling. Asymbol exists to pay tribute to the creative workhorses who have inspired us by making their imagery available to the world," Rice explains.

With a web design that imitates a gallery space, the Asymbol site makes viewing the work approachable and intuitive. It includes brief biographies of each artist and illuminating histories of individual pieces. A comical yet helpful guide on sizing features Chewbacca, Mr. T, Miss Piggy and Chucky as models.

Separated into photographs and artwork, both categories show a range of imagery, subjects, emotions and styles, but maintain a cohesive feel as a whole. From Jeff Curtes' melancholy "Chairlift" photograph (and the adrenaline-drenched chaos of a heli-drop in his "The LZ," pictured above) to Jamie Lynn's colorful "Moonlit Polihale" painting, each takes the viewer to a rare moment in time that many don't often get to experience.

See more artwork after the jump.

Standouts include Adam Haynes' "Silverton" painting, depicting a mountain peak shadowing a dilapidated hut. Haynes painted the piece on wood, and the peeling paint around the edges reveals the surprising medium underneath.

Nick Russian, a former Lib Tech custom snowboard artist takes his work from the board to canvas, painting surreal mountains and clouds that look like graffiti using a unique layering process. The paintings show slews of dark colors reigned in by dashes of white, resembling hidden words strewn throughout.

Scott Lenhardt's "Powers 2000" illustrates a similar penchant for elaborate designs and small brushstrokes. The long, slim canvas (above left) shows a pair yellow trees reflect tentacle-like into the lake below. His "Deer Stream," by contrast (at right), uses the miniscule strokes to different effect, invoking Botero in their sleek yet absolute lines.

Parillo's "Blessing and Confrontations at the Circus Contradiction" fuses bright colors and a collage style. With obsessive details all drawn with pen and covered in acrylics, Parillo's symmetrical painting overlays science fiction, horror and a classic mural style. Two hands hold eyes, two women crouch, lines of bears and baboons hold machine guns, and an exposed heart sits at the center.

Asymbol's current show, "I Am Snowboarding," is an homage to deceased boarder Jeffrey Lin Anderson. It opened on 14 November 2009, in Anderson's hometown of Mammoth Lakes, CA, and will travel internationally through May 2010. See their Calendar for further info. The works can also be viewed on Asymbol. Each painting is a collaboration between a photographer of Anderson and a painter who revises the original image.

Proceeds benefit the JLA Memorial Fund, with limited edition prints of 23 each, 44 photographers and artists contributed to the show. Perhaps the most bittersweet piece, "First Day" shows Anderson as a young child posing with his board over a cartoon mountain. It smartly leaves Anderson largely unchanged—sharpied "JEFF"s remain clear on the knuckle of each glove—while revising the landscape into bold, simple lines of a snow peak and an orange sky. Anderson died while attempting a snowboarding trick in 2003.

This is not Rice's first foray into business. He's also collaborated with Quiksilver on exclusive outer gear, and Lib Tech worked with Rice to make snowboards praised for their durability and performance. Rice has shown himself as savvy and agile with business as he is on a board.

Asymbol also has a strong environmental streak, contributing 5% of all proceeds to the Action Sports Environmental Coalition and Protect Our Winters. Says Rice of giving back, "And since we owe the environment we take from while we reap the rewards of its bounty, a portion of our proceeds will be donated to nonprofit organizations that are working to raise environmental and social awareness and accountability in the action-sports world."

Works sell directly from Asymbol's site in a variety of sizes, from $300 to $1,300.

A testament to the post-punk art and music scene of the '70s and '80s, "Ripped: T-Shirts from the Underground" offers a visual history of the time through rare and one-off t-shirts. From Sonic Youth to Run DMC, the Sex Pistols to The Kinks, Talking Heads to The Cure, and, of course, Van F****** Halen, the tees in Cesar Padilla’s 200-plus piece collection are impressive, to say the least. Padilla, owner of downtown NYC vintage store Cherry and the book’s editor, has been working on the collection since he was a kid. Here, he shares the best of the bunch –glorious sweat stains and all - alongside musings of luminaries of the decades, like fashion designer Betsey Johnson and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, as well as younger fans including singer/songwriter Will Oldham.

As singer/poet/writer/all-around-agitator Lydia Lunch describes in the book's introduction, for decades, t-shirts have acted as an "iconic symbol of defiance." The DIY stylings of many of Padilla's tees reinforce this sentiment, as do insights from musicians and artists. Commenting on a spread of Sonic Youth shirts, for example, Thurston Moore writes: “A cool t-shirt has no rules, the more unique the better. I was doing solo sets on the 1994 Lollapalooza tour and decided to sell T-shirts that were limited and designed on the spot. I hit Targets and Wal-Marts and bought white Beefy-Ts and magic-markered art and words on them, signed and numbered them, and sold them for a couple of bucks more than I paid.”

Describing the impetus behind his collection, Padilla concludes, “I grew up in Southern California and was raised by my two sisters. As a consequence, I was on the Sunset Strip at an early age, attending rock shows and being exposed to many things a ten-year-old wouldn't normally have been exposed to. In 1988, I went traveling to South America. When I returned, my mother had thrown away my rock T-shirt collection, documenting this misspent California youth. Since then, I have been searching for the Holy Grail. This collection is clearly a direct result of such pillaging."

Ripped comes out 9 March 2010 and is available now for pre-order on Amazon.

photos by Youngna Park

The tradeshows of the art world, art fairs can leave even the most avid art enthusiast feeling deflated by day's end. To help keep everyone in high spirits during the NYC art marathon that started yesterday, Jen Bekman and the team behind her online art initiative 20x200 will be handing out survival kits packed with a Daily Candy city guide, artist Jason Polan's clever hand-drawn map, a "Visual Palate Cleansing System" for the visually overstimulated and much more.

Packed in only a portion of the totes, a few lucky fair-goers will randomly receive the "Why You Should Buy Art" limited edition print by William Powhida. Dubbed by NY Magazine critic Jerry Saltz as "the second best thing to happen to the art world in 2009," Powhida is quickly becoming a loud satirical voice for the independently-minded art community. His "Why You Should Buy Art" piece strongly highlights this sentiment (in large part a response to controversy about the New Museum), which provides reasons such as "How else will you become a trustee?" and "Nothing says culture like a bigass painting."

To provide attendees with a personal interactive element, 20x200 is holding a Twitter contest for the tote bag. Simply snap a photo of yourself or someone else carrying the survival kit tote and upload it to Twitter or Flickr with the hashtag #20x200 for a five dollar gift card and a chance to win a $200 print from 20x200. They will also give away bonus prints to people spotted carrying the tote at the fairs.

For more information on the NYC art fair festivities, check out The Armory Show website or download the 20x200 map.

Spanish artist Roberto Mollá's latest work, a series of 15 compositions taking up the famous Japanese tale of pearl diver Princess Tamatori (showing at the upcoming Pulse art fair in NYC), puts the artist in the well-populated ranks of other cultural interpreters of the story. Compared to Hokusai's explicit illustration of the fabled sexual encounter between girl and octopus and more recent examples in manga, film and pornography, however, Mollá's surreal vision makes for a more restrained telling.

In fact, it was Mollá's minimalist graphic style—mixing geometric shapes, delicately realistic pencil renderings, and a sparing use of color—that first caught our eye at the Fountain exhibition in Miami last January. While the work we saw then took up Japanese themes too, these new pieces see the 44-year-old punctuating his grayscale palette with gold instead of red.

A futuristic tenor, reinforced by Mollá's use of cream-colored graph paper as a medium and vector-based imagery, nicely plays off the artist's highly-detailed depictions of sea creatures, like mollusks festooned with tentacles and beautifully scaly Koi fish.

Inspired by artists such as Dadaist Francis Picabia, Italian Futurists and Russian Suprematist El Lissitzky, Moll#225;'s uses the influence of these art movements to come up with his fresh and personalized style.

Be sure to check out "Tamatori" at Christina Ray Gallery's (formally GlowLab) booth at Pulse New York, 4-7 March 2010.

A 60-foot catamaran comprised of recycled PET and reclaimed plastic bottles, Plastiki proves the power of imagination and ingenuity with British eco-adventurist David de Rothschild at the helm.

More than just a boat, the Plastiki symbolizes how waste can really become an admissible resource, taking on the intimidating task of sailing from San Francisco to Sydney. De Rothschild, inspired by a news story about the "garbage patch" floating in the Pacific Ocean, spent the last several years developing the Plastiki along with "a handpicked crew of leading scientists, adventurers and creatives."

Now nearly ready to set sail, the Plastiki and its team have been kitted out by San Francisco-based duo Nice Collective—who decorated the interior of the boat and designed some gear for the crew—as well as Shortomatic, who designed a pair of "Beat Waste" board shorts.

The range created by Nice Collective includes flags, lighting, storage solutions, tools and clothing—all speaking to the romanticism of the open ocean while performing as functional equipment. Using Jacques Cousteau and Buckminster Fuller as sources of inspiration, Plastiki even incorporates a a geodesic dome as its cabin structure.

The Plastiki expedition involves stopping at a host of environmental problem areas, beginning with the garbage patch off the coast of California. Other hot spots undergoing the team's inspection include damaged coral reefs and soon-to-be-flooded islands. The Plastiki website makes it possible to join in on their long journey, with live tracking of the boat and up-to-date information and videos of the team's findings.

The Woods

Portland's newest venue is located in a classy up-and-coming southeast neighborhood known as Sellwood. The Woods intends to keep its line-up mostly acoustic and melodic, a suitable genre considering its decorous surroundings and the fact it was formerly a funeral home. Bands can play either in the main chapel area, which is where bodies were shown, or the basement, which was used for embalming and cold storage. While this knowledge could add a creepy air to the proceedings, The Woods is quickly becoming one of the hottest places to play in Portland.

The Artistery

The Artistery's all-ages shows are a great way to revisit those bittersweet teen years. Particularly since The Artistery is an actual basement, in an actual house, in southeast Portland. Don't be fooled by the exterior, their line-up is as talented as any full-blown music hall, including performances by local favorites White Fang and Explode into Colors.

The Gorge Amphitheater

Surely one of the most spectacular venues in one of the most spectacular natural landscapes in the country, The Gorge Amphitheater seats over 25,000 people and overlooks the mighty Columbia River. Such a magnificent setting inspires truly magical performances. The Gorge has seen acts such as Neil Young, Van Halen, Phish and Ben Harper and Pearl Jam's iconic box set Live at the Gorge was recorded there. Every year The Gorge hosts the Sasquatch Music Festival, which hosts established as well as emerging bands such as Vampire Weekend and Portland's own Nurses.

The Old Church

The Old Church is a uniquely Portland venue. While it is an actual old church available for all the intended purposes, they also rent out the space for distinctly secular events. The building's soaring ceilings and stained-glass windows offer a hushed and reverent air to everything from weekly Sunday jazz to local bands.

White Eagle Saloon

Portland now bears little resemblance to the rough and tough Wild West town that it used to be, but White Eagle Saloon, located in Portland's grittier Northeast quadrant, is a great place to lift a pint in nostalgia for those days when drunken sailors were shanghaied onto waiting ships and rouged ladies of the night hollered from upstairs balconies. The saloon features nightly live music of the folk and fiddle variety, as well as a resident ghost that likes to lock unwitting female guests in the ladies restroom.

On the heels of Via, the latest project to hit Los Angeles' public spaces is How Many Billboards?, an earnest strategy by MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House bringing art into the everyday discourse. Until the end of March 2010, L.A. will see 21 artworks on billboards spread across areas in and around Hollywood, West Hollywood, Culver City, Westwood and Silverlake.

In the works since 2006, for the project to happen MAK Center relied on prominent billboard companies to donate space and then commissioned artists like Michael Asher, Kenneth Anger and Renee Green to create thought-provoking images.

In a city where conflicts between the local government, residents and billboard companies are ongoing, "How Many Billboards?" co-curator and MAK Center Director Kimberli Meyer points out that the difference between public art such as murals and image heavy advertisements is not clearly defined. L.A. has gone through temporary bans keeping new billboards from going up, and outdoor artwork gets lumped in.

The show will be accompanied by guided bus tours, film and video screenings, as well as panel discussions and lectures. Check the website for more details, including a map of where each of the billboards is located and the artists' statements about their work.

Neither a live concert nor an art exhibition, Transverse Temporal Gyrus is a site specific sonic installation featuring Baltimore-based band Animal Collective and experimental artist Danny Perez as part of the Guggenheim Museum's 50th anniversary celebration.

Through sound and video projection, the environment of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building becomes psychedelic, distorted and luminous, all designed to pique the senses. Band members and performers will use props and costumes to add to the ambiance of the looping pre-recorded music. "The core elements and colors are worked into the piece in order to unite this room of sound with the inside of your brain," asserts Animal Collective.

Building off the raw space provided by Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum, the collaboration will transform the museum's open environment with constant motion at the core of the concept.

The night of immersive performance art will be held 4 March 2010 from 9pm to 12am. Tickets are currently sold out.

The mixed media of Sangbin IM's latest exhibition "Confluence" challenges its audience to see the world through the Korean artist's eyes—a view that teeters between reality and illusion for a unified glare at the perceptions held by contemporary society.

Currently on view at NYC's Mary Ryan Gallery, IM's work is the result of a meticulous method that involves layering digital images of his original paintings (usually depicting an element from nature) over a digital photograph—typically one of hundreds he took over a period of time of the same location.

The Yale University grad (who now teaches at Columbia University as he works on his doctorate in art education) creates these semi-delusional scenes to comment on the disparity between Utopian desires and the insatiable consumerism that modern culture seemingly wrestles with.

"Confluence" is on display at Mary Ryan Gallery through 27 March 2010.

With a goal of finding a new way for readers to delve into the story of a book, Spanish graphic designer Alberto Hernandez used "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" to create the amazingly intricate Hybrid Novels for his master's degree project.

Noticing that most novels come without images, Hernandez took to the task of re-imagining the classic by incorporating illustration, photos and typographic elements in between the narrative, even taking an X-acto knife and glue to the text.

As Hernandez explained in an interview, the design of the book—with hidden or overlaid pages and printed on different types of paper—was appropriate for the way it matches with the detective plot of R. L. Stevenson's novel, giving readers the feeling of true interaction with the story in a literally hands-on way.

Hernandez's previous projects are just as smart and well-done. Check them out on his site.

Wieden+Kennedy's latest venture, an online video and radio portal dubbed WK+Entertainment, puts the advertising giant into the content production game. Among the offerings, the web series "Don't Move Here" documents Portland's ever-blossoming music scene in video. Helmed by writer, curator and director Aaron Rose, who's behind the acclaimed film "Beautiful Losers," the project features concert footage and interviews by WK's Shayla Hason, who also acts as host. We recently spoke with Hason about what sets Portland's creative processes apart and why anyone would want to move there.

Cool Hunting: First off, why is the series called "Don't Move Here?" Is there a lot of interest in keeping Portland's music scene more private?

Shayla Hason: I don't know if they want to keep it more private. The title comes from a Tom McCall quote in the early '80s: "We want you to visit, but for God's sakes, don't move here." In the past year or two, people think they're going to make it big in music if they move here, but that's so at odds with what's made Portland's scene so successful. People move here just to play music, not to be famous. The scenes are much more welcoming than in other cities, but there's only so many barista jobs. And it's not like A and R people are wandering the streets here. There's also something to be said for growing the scene where you live. Your town could probably use way more help than Portland could. Your town also needs an all-ages venue and an indie music label. You can grow a community wherever you are.

CH: Everyone talks about Portland's scene in such reductive terms: "Living expenses are cheap! There's a lot of house parties!" What do you think the series is doing differently from all the other music journalists who rapturously cover Portland?

SH: I think one big difference is that it's not cult-of-personality reporting about the musicians. We try to focus on the people that are involved in all different facets of the many music scenes, like the kids who run the record studios, or the poster designers, or the bookers. We always have a band playing at the end of each episode, but we're interested in all different facets. And also, we're not interested in keeping it to bands that are on some national, albeit underground, level. We've had some bands like Yacht that are beginning to be well-known, but we're not going to talk about...The Gossip! Or...the Dandy Warhols! We're interested in the things that are bubbling up.

CH: One of the common themes that runs through the shows is cross-pollination. Everyone's in six bands, and has a clothing line, and works in a bar. Do you think that contributes to Portland's cultural creativity?

SH: Cross-pollination definitely contributes. What saved Portland, and what we saw fail in Seattle, was that there's not one particular Portland sound. So the major music industry can't shoebox it, define it and blow it up. There's so many different kinds of Portland sounds. The welcoming aspect is what's led to the cross-pollination.

CH: When and why did you move here?

SH: It was in the beginning of 2000, I was getting out of the airplane for the fourth time within a year, and I thought, "I should just move here." My brother went to school here in the early '90s. I mainly moved here because it's the most livable city in the U.S.—for a particular sort of person, that is. Definitely don't move here if you think it's a big city, because it's not. But I think it's really livable.

Why tackle crowded subways, road rage and the world’s most ferocious shoppers when Culture Label aggregates art and design objects from 75 of the U.K.'s top galleries, museums and libraries into one site? The brand-new enterprise edits the most unusual and beautiful pieces available from spaces such as V&A, the Tate, Saatchi Gallery and the British Museum so that shoppers can browse and buy from the comfort of their own homes.

From remote-controlled snakes to lo-tech cameras, see what we found from Culture Label below.

German-born potter Anja Lubach's Porcelain Vessel (above left, £61) features subtle reliefs of anonymous faces. The piece works as a vase, cup, votive or just as an object for display.

Anyone deserving a "Bravo!" will appreciate British artist Martin Smith's whimsical Applause Machine (above right, £225).

Made of wood, this crossbow and its two padded arrows (above left, £26) will stand up to the toughest of play and can stand in as a costume in a pinch.

To freak out parents and relatives this holiday season, this remote-controlled rattle snake (above right, £30) realistically slithers.

Every budding photographer needs a Pinhole Camera (above left, £13) and this one makes it a little easier than the DIY oatmeal container version.

Fuzzy Culture, an independent U.K.-based children's label, mixes natural wools with an urban attitude for a line of colorful tops and beanie hats. Their merino wool comes from sustainable sheep ranches in New Zealand, who take animal welfare seriously. Strong on color and fit too, their designs make for the ultimate in versatility and longevity.

The Fuzzy Culture collection won't show signs of age, encouraging users to pass clothing on to future children. Encouraging buyers to get as much use as possible out of the line, Fuzzy designs all their tops for layering or for wearing alone and with dimensions long enough to tuck in—doubling their life by creating room to grow.

Prices range from £9-21, and all items sell from the Fuzzy Culture online shop.

I’m talking about something much more natural and part of the fabric of the company.

But one size doesn’t fit all as you can see in the very best companies.

Apple’s culture and Google’s company culture couldn’t be any different. And I’m not suggesting that one is better than the other. In fact I don’t think you can. Each culture works for their company.

That culture impacts everything though. It impacts the company point of view about hiring, customers and conduct. It also impacts their attitude about product design and attitude about release.

I see some companies in our portfolio shipping product regulary and often. They want to get their software out to the masses and they want feedback so they can do it again and get better each time.

Other companies tend to be much more obsessive about what goes out the door and would rather wait a bit more to get it right.

And while I think company culture can vary from one successful company to another, I think there is one thing in common they all have: a culture of operating execution.

The best companies know how to execute. They take nothing for granted but they expect it and they work hard at it. Really hard. They get into a rhythm where decisions are made and stuff happens. They do it with respect & care. They strive to get better. And it happens everyday.

I don’t believe you should try and force your culture to be like Zappos or Apple or Google or Facebook or Craigslist. That feels too forced to me. It has to be natural and most often comes from the founders and the initial core team.

But i think everyone has a important role in the company culture. And it’s something to handle with care.