Vehicle for Expression

If you're looking to add a few touches to the walls of your place, Movie Car Posters.com can help you out with some serious wall swag. Not just restricted to movies (or cars), they've taken your favorite vehicles from both the big and small screens and artistically silhouetted them against themed backdrops. The resulting posters are both fun and impressively artistic...and maybe a tad hipsterish, but that stink should wear off relatively quickly. Then you just have a cool decoration that shines in your pimped-out room.

A few of my personal favorites:

The A-Team

Transformers

Top Gun

TJ with the assist.

Xmas List 2011: Polaboy

I'm not exactly an art connoisseur. The most artistic thing on the walls in my apartment is a Pittsburgh Sparks calendar that I got free at a game last summer (hi Miss January). But even I could get down with this creative idea. As explained by the folks at Thrillist:

From two German dudes going by the moniker "Lightboys" who're big into 'roids, Polaboy will blow up any Polaroid into a large-format back-lit version that, when illuminated, will "not only open up rooms, but also hearts and minds", so it actually won't be polarizing? Send 'em a hard copy of your pic (or upload a hi-res digital version) and select an aspect ratio, and they'll use a special scanner to capture the image, exposing an enlarged version onto a proprietary sheet of slide film, also how Coolio pitches his concept of a two-hour-long rap opera based on "Fantastic Voyage"...when he isn't busy captaining teams in Rock & Jock. A mountable rear LED panel is then attached, and it's all "pimped" by Coolio with a fabric-wrapped power cord in your choice of seven colorways, from orange, to red w/ white spots.

If somehow you possess zero photos, your life is pathetic, but you can still pick from a catalog of pro shots featuring everything from beach scenes to a naked woman in a pool, who'll Shanghai your visitors' attention with her Forbidden City. Baby pandas!!

If any of my dearest loved ones are reading this and giving it serious thought, I'll offer two suggestions:

(1.) This shot, from Polaboy's galleries:

(2.) This shot, of my baby Hiromi Oshima:

Just a thought.

City of Dreams

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time building small cities out of Legos and other toys, racing Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars through the plastic brick and mortar canyons of modern civilization's cleansed and simplified essence. And though I eventually grew out of the activity of playing with these constructs of urban utopia, my mind has never lost its fascination with them. Neither, it seems, has Chris Burden's.

A sculpter of modern art, Burden has created a masterpiece sure to capture the mind of the child inside each of us. And his work is made even more impressive around the 4:40 mark, where the full scale of "Metropolis" is finally brought into perspective.

Believing Ain't Seeing

From the strange, strange world of James Franco.

Last month, the increasingly bizzare man-of-the-moment James Franco announced his involvement in a new large-scale art project with the conceptual art duo Praxis (Brainard and Delia Carey). Not necessarily a shocking move, but Franco’s venture gets better—the art is “non-visible.”

...Franco and Praxis also warn that, “When you contribute to this Kickstarter project, you are not buying a visible piece of art!” Yes, after contributing real money, buyers will not receive any tangible piece of art and will instead by presented with a written description of their purchase.

With prices ranging from $1000 to $10,000, you might ask yourself, “who would actually willingly donate money for pretty much nothing?”

Answer: Montreal web producer, social media marketer, model and actor Aimee Davison.

So you're telling me that Franco just got paid $10,000 (or, perhaps $3,333.33 if divided equally) for something that doesn't exist? W...t...f? How can I get in on this?

And what did Davison get for her $10,000? A piece called "Fresh Air":

A unique piece, only this one is for sale. The air you are purchasing is like buying an endless tank of oxygen. No matter where you are, you always have the ability to take a breath of the most delicious, clean-smelling air that the earth can produce. Every breath you take gives you endless peace and health. This artwork is something to carry with you if you own it. Because wherever you are, you can imagine yourself getting the most beautiful taste of air that is from the mountain tops or fields or from the ocean side; it is an endless supply.

Riiiiggghhhhtttttt...

(TJ with the assist)

Respect My Gangsta: Australian Taggers

From The Opening Hours:

Last week, a wall that Teazer, Numskull and Roach had painted in Camperdown, was painted over by someone (owners, real estate agents, council….?) without the artists knowing. This was the response from an unknown person. It made our day. We’re not sure which one we like best…

Brilliant. Bravo, sirs. Bravo.