Kai Samuels-Davis
Californian artist Kai Samuels-Davis layers linear paint strokes and large washes of colour to create images that are recognisable as abstract faces, but without all the visual information seen in traditional portraits.
Californian artist Kai Samuels-Davis layers linear paint strokes and large washes of colour to create images that are recognisable as abstract faces, but without all the visual information seen in traditional portraits.
In the heat of the New York summer, Gothamist associate editor Rebecca Fishbein and videographer Jessica Leibowitz spent a day in Coney Island, Brooklyn visiting the World of Swimming‘s Mermaid School. The skilled instructors at the school teach the students how to swim like a mermaid, a feat that requires a great deal of core strength, and in doing so, encourage self-confidence and pride. Ummm ok, sure…it’s all fun and games until someone drowns. Merman…Merman! 😉
Loving these anti-greeting cards from the Hate Mail shop, which will allow you to send out some beautiful insults to your favourite enemies – they’ll even customise by personally handwriting your message and sending to your recipient anonymously. Standard insults such as ‘Eat A Dick!’ are available or you can create a fresh one 🙂
Just outside New York City, there’s a sprawling, 57-room mansion sitting on 6 acres and equipped with a bowling alley, indoor tennis court, two bars, a library, opulent interiors, with spiral staircases and chandeliers. It is also entirely abandoned. Built in the late 1930s and last inhabited in the 1970s, the neglect is allegedly down to an owner who would buy lavish mansions and leave them to rot. While the building itself is in need of repairs, the collections within it remain untouched and have been beautifully captured by photographer Bryan Sansivero – there are dolls, old photographs, plastic flowers, paintings and two pianos, stark reminders of a privileged life from the past. Fascinating stuff! 🙂
With his new series of mashups Trump x Magritte, Brazilian artist and illustrator Butcher Billy imagines an improbable encounter between painter René Magritte, the master of Surrealism, and American politician, wanna-be president, and billionaire Donald Trump. Love it! 🙂
Kanye West has unveiled the slightly bizarre yet interesting new video for his track ‘Famous’ featuring an array of naked celebrities in bed together including wife Kim Kardashian naked and asleep, along with Taylor Swift and Kim’s sex tape buddy ex, Ray J. A slow zoom out reveals their other bedmates to be Amber Rose, Caitlyn Jenner, Bill Cosby, George W. Bush, Donald Trump, Anna Wintour, Rihanna, and Chris Brown, all snuggled up beside them in an enormous bed. Controversial yet an interesting visual commentary on the intertwined, exposed nature of fame and the cult of celebrity. Check it out 🙂
A fake, tongue-in-cheek ad directed by Mike Diva entitled Japanese Donald Trump Commercial, this WTF video imagines what a commercial announcing Donald Trump as new president of the world would look like in Japan. Kawaii!! 🙂
We love the official trailer for the semi-biographical film Elvis & Nixon telling the story of the impromptu historic meeting which resulted in the most requested photo from the United States National Archives. Looks as if Kevin Spacey might be playing the president for the rest of his career – check it out 🙂
Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song) is a tongue-in-cheek song by Conner4Real (Andy Samberg) from the upcoming parody film Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. The music video, which debuted on Saturday Night Live, focuses on Conner4Real’s romance with a girl who has a very specific request. Golden LOLz a plenty! 🙂
Created by the designers from Chromosphere, Forms in Nature: Understanding Our Universe is a stunning animated short film paying tribute to the geometric shapes of nature, focusing on the most perfect and pure shape, the circle. An audiovisual meditation on mankind’s scientific achievements and the wonders of the natural world, this film celebrates how science deepens our connection to the universe with study and curiosity. This is amazing work! 🙂