Last Painting of the Year: The Outlook!

This alcove was spotted in Piketberg, shaded by a Victorian corrigated iron roof. The large sash windows have frames encrusted with dark "heritage green" paint, which in South Africa usually indicates a National Monument or very old building. The chairs and blackboard menu invite the passersby to rest and eat. Outside is the sunny sky of Piketberg and the road from the mountain sloping by.....

Here are my New Year's wishes to you: there are steps to take, and roads to cross, an uphill climb, a downhill slide, new doors to enter and new windows to open. As we wait with bated breath to enter the New Year, may the choices be many and varied and exciting!

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Zombie Batman In Blackest Night Series Toys

Batman gets a seriously creepy makeover for the Blackest Night comic series by DC Comics. The figure line has become increasingly popular, hence this set is series #5...


Other characters figures includes Nekron, the Lord of the Unliving; Hawkman, the winged warrior who joins the Black Lanterns after falling victim to them; Deadman, the ghost hero who’s tormented by voices of the dead; and of course, our beloved Batman.


[VIA]

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What NOT To Do This New Years!

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Crazy Motorbike Designs

I love the Predator-custom look complete with trophy skull/spinal cord on the side!

This Biplane concept motorcycle was presented in 2007 by Suzuki in Tokyo and has lovely futuristic detailing.

This orange and grey colored machine made its first appearance in the 2008 National Motorcycle Show in Toronto. It was invented by 18-year-old Ben J. Poss Gulak, who also gave the unique motorcycle certain interesting features, like running on electricity and being controlled by body language.

This bike gets the Rat Fink (Ed Daddy Roth)look at the Motorcycle Rally, South Dakota

This Jaguar cat-inspired concept bike was created by Barend Massow Hemmes of Massow Concept Cycles along with Polar cycles of Doncaster UK.

[VIA]

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Bloxels

Designer Jinha Lee wondered what was possible if pixels escaped from the monitor and became physical objects, so he created Bloxels.
These small devices are a prototype for a new type of display system that Lee began working on while studying at the University of Tokyo.

The design uses a module-based approach, consisting of translucent cubes that emit a colorful glow according to the transmitted data from the neighbouring bloxels. the user can freely move the blocks around and the image will transform accordingly.



[VIA]

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The Union (2009)

Size: 45cm W x 49cm H x 4.2cm D

See close-ups below or click above on main image for a supersized view!

(Completed 30th December 2009)

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Netching Is The New Word By TMD Crew

I just read a really interesting post about the TMD crew's new form of graff via RT's blog. I will give you a quote of it..."Allow me to explain the term 'Netching'. You know how sometimes an in-joke can just get taken too far and spawn a whole set of slang? That’s how NETCH came about. Pretty much it is an abbreviation of ‘Next Echelon’. There was a lot of joking around at some of our walls about taking things to the highest level possible in regards to scale, detail and concept. It was half-joking around but ended up motivating a small movement in NZ that has really evolved our approach to painting entirely."

Deus, Askew and Berst. August 2009

"The idea was to bring a combination of each others styles into each piece by putting up our own first outlines but working in sections across both pieces. The precursor to this approach is definitely the signature ‘Style Smashing’ of MSK and AWR pieces by Tyke, Ewok, Revok and Rime to name a few. It is also a variation of the ethos behind ‘The Exchange‘ Project. Berst and I worked in total unison on each piece bringing our own illustrative elements across both names and attempting to think as different as possible about every element painted."

Askew Stray and Berst. September 2009.

Stray, Vents, Askew, Shake, Misery and Berst. September 2009.

[VIA] but Originally spied HERE

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Shoe Shop Interiors

The Cool Hunter have a nice post up about shoe shop interiors....it truly has become an artform in itself...or is it actually just trying to distract you from the shop's lack of cool shoes?

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Kaws 4-foot Dissected Companion Black Edition

The Kaws 4' Dissected Companion Original Fake Black Version toy has had an official release date at the Original Fake Tokyo flagship store. It has been available to buy for crazy money since December 19th. It looks super good in black....


[VIA]

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The Smoking Turtle

In the northern province of Jilin, China there is a terrapin that is addicted to nicotine. According to the Xinhua news agency, "One day, Yun (the owner) teased the turtle by putting a cigarette butt into its mouth, and to his surprise it started to smoke it. From then on, he shared his cigarettes with his pet.

"It seems to have become addicted," Yun was quoted as saying.

"Whenever I smoke in front of it, it will stick its head out of the water and fidget about until I give it the stub."

Yun proved his claim by putting a cigarette in the tortoise's mouth in front the paper's reporter and his neighbours. To everyone's surprise, the turtle finished it in less than four minutes."...WTF

[VIA]

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Piketberg Cottage - When Wikepedia cannot help!

Visiting the tranquil town of Piketberg, I soon realised that this place was a well-kept secret, a place to consider if one really wants to "get away from it all". The roads are running perpendicular with that wonderful mountain and many houses are staggered along the sloping ground. A beautiful nest of townhouses from an earlier era attracted my attention, sharing outer walls, each cottage a little lower than the previous. And then, on one of them was a plain tole-decorated ceramic plaque, a blue gate and on the gateposts two very old paint-encrusted artists' palettes! The legend on the plate: The Katzeff family lived here from 1937 to 1999. Who were these artistic people?

I paged through a lot of brochures on Piketberg as well as a book and the website for the town. And all these articles have the same words: Lithuanian Jews settled in Piketberg, ran businesses as salesmen to the farms and some eventually became highly successful entepreneurs who left for larger centra. The synagogue was bought by the municipality and became a normal small-town museum. I combed the Internet... Where are we going to find out more about that artistic family, their pottery and their painting?

My painting is of a cute cottage in the same row, chosen because it was a shorter style house and more suitable for a painting.

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The 10 Best Posts Of 2009

Another year gone..in a flash. Last year it was 600-odd posts, this year we amped it up to 900-odd and next year we aim to create over 1,000 posts for your viewing pleasure. Once again, to our old fans and to our newest readers; a huge thank you from the ESPV team for continuing to support and read our blog daily...Big Up and have a good New Year!!

10. Awesome Tags. It's probably been getting lots of hits cos of my use of that wonderful American word 'awesome'....

9. 3 Modern House Designs. 3 Architectural marvels in modern living...

8. ESP Flaming Skull Guitar. This custom guitar design by Jimmy Diresta costs a whopping US$14,999! Luckily, it also comes with a velvet lined, coffin shaped case.

7. Corset Piercings by Dan Brailey. Highly original fetishistic piercings...

6. Chaz Bojorquez; Cholo Writer. Chaz is the Godfather of Cholo-style graffiti in LA and in this post are some lovely old pics of gang graff from the 70's & 80's.

5. Concept Robots By Tham Hoi Mun. A Malaysian conceptual artist who has an impressive array of design skills and a good eye for mech designing.

4. Hubless Custom Motorcycle. Hubless wheels work by fixing the rotating parts onto the outer side of a non-rotating inner ring that attaches to the motorcycle's swingarm or forks...whatever, it looks incredible! Watch the video!

3. Takashi Amano Pt. 3. Seems like you guys and girls really enjoy gawping at Mr Amano's ecological beauties...Don't worry, I do too and plan to be posting lots more amazing fishtanks in the coming year.

2. Hot Toys Joker 12-inch Figure. Yes, that's a picture of the toy, not of Heath Ledger. 35 points of articulation, a Parallel Eyeball Rolling System...possibly the best toy ever made.

1. Bad Tattoos. Yep, it seems like you all yearn to see pictures of tattooed dolphins smoking bongs in lazyboys and Patrick Swayze (RIP) reincarnated as a gay centaur with a tux shirt....Good to know that our viewers are an intelligent and sophisticated lot!

See you in 2010!! We are going for 1,000 posts next year, so be sure to check us out on the regular!

See the 10 best posts of 2008 HERE

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The Writings Of Pixotosco

Super clean Brazilian writer, Pixotosco has a show in Barcelona with fellow brazilian typographer, Yomar Augusto at the moment...if I could go I would....

"Tony de Marco a.k.a. Pixotosco blends type design “haute couture” with the savage letters from his hometown, São Paulo. His series “Autropelo” subverts the “pixação” codes, overlaying messages to focus its impact. Tony is a fine artist, type designer and photographer. Hard line, romantic, agitated, former shy (worst than former smokers), gambler, dyslexic, generous, egocentric, brass faced, caring, devil's advocate."
artspace Barcelona
ROJO®. Carrer Girona 61 Local 02, Eixample. 08009 Barcelona. Spain.
talk: +34 934 673 598 online: www.rojo-barcelona.com

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