Men at Work

Check out these wood engravings from the 20's and 30's. Would love to have some of these on the wall of my living room. They all depict scenes of people at work. I found them on the blog FRENCH CANCAN. A great vintage blog by the way.  Check out more of them here.

Noblesse Oblique Exhibition

Scott Campbell has opened a solo exhibition called Noblesse Oblique in the OHWOW gallery in Los Angeles. Not around the corner for us, but that is an extra reason to show some of his works. He uses a wide variety of materials like ostrich eggshell, graphite, currency, copper and neon.

His use of cut currency is very special. In one piece a staggering $11,000 worth of dollar sheets is used, to carve out a skull to create a 3-dimensional piece of art. All artworks show strong influences by Campbells background as a tattoo artist. He honors his background, as the name implies, but still seeks a new context for the art normally seen on someones skin. Read all background info on OHWOW and see more pics at Slamxhype.

Sami Knife Exhibition

The Saint-Étienne International Design Biennale 2010 presented an exhibition called the "Sami Knife II". Our friends from Denim Demon are Sami so this made me curious. The purpose of the exhibition was to bring attention to the current situation and future of the Sami knife, called "leuku" (Finnish) or stuorniibi (Sami) which means "big knife".

The result is a great collection of both modern and classic designs of this type of knife. Participating designers flew in from places as varied as Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Switserland, the Netherlands as well as the United Kingdom. Both contemporary and old fashioned designs look incredible. Interestingly, a lot of designers have found inspiration in their own culture. An overview can be seen here.

(images and info via Designboom)

East River Tattoo

This tattoo shop from Brooklyn, New York was founded in 2000 by artist and self proclaimed patriot Duke Riley. The shop specializes in custom tattoos, influenced by maritime folk art and traditional tattooing from the 19th century. The nautical references can be seen clearly.

Next to being a tattoo artist, Riley's website shows us that he is the mastermind behind the creation of beautiful mosaic, scrimshaw and art installations. His artist statement reads like a poem:

"..Throughout my projects I profile the space where water meets the land, traditionally marking the periphery of urban society, what lies beyond rigid moral constructs, a sense of danger and possibility.."

(via WMCF)

Garbage Of New York City

Justin Gignac is the inventor of the New York City Garbage Cube. The artist picks up litter from the streets of New York, then transforms an old Broadway ticket, subway map or old Starbucks cup into your own little slice of New York. The garbage is then 'trapped' in an airtight plastic cube, signed, dated and numbered. You can even get a limited edition that's filled with litter from New Years Eve!

So now you too can get your own little peace of The Big Apple (even if it is a little rotten) for only €50,- a piece!

Peter Funch

The New York based, Danish photo artist Peter Funch certainly has a way of playing with your mind. In most of his photographs nothing is what it seems. That is, not at that certain point in time. His work consists of documented moments that never really existed - rather, they were put together from hundreds of pictures taken over a period of several weeks which were then put together in one frame.

He actually did some really nice work here in Amsterdam too that you can see on his website.

Just enjoy..

WPA Posters

The Work Progress Administration was the biggest governmental agency that was established as a part of the New Deal under the first term of President Roosevelt. Between 1936 and 1943, it employed millions of people during the Great Depression. This agency carried out public work projects, and operated large art, drama and media projects. It is not my intention to make this a history lesson, but I had to dig into some background info on the posters you can see in this post.

During the period the agency was active, various branches of the WPA produced around 2000 posters. This was to promote project, events, arts, safe working environments etc. The Library of Congress has the largest collection of these posters. The shop Unionmade from San Francisco made a nice selection on their blog of the ones that are work-related.

Imagine how cool these designs would be if you found enamel versions in your local junkshop or flea market. It would give a real authentic feel to your house, shop or showroom. The whole collection can be found here.

Jolby & Ashley Forrette's "Sea Legs"

Interested as I am in tattoo's I came across this stunning artwork made by the collaborative effort of "Jolby" and photographer Ashley Forette. It is not an actual tattoo but I think it is stunning nonetheless. The complete collection of artworks can be seen here.

Faded wall painting

This wall painting proves that not only boots, denim and men look better over time.