Help us support the relief efforts in Japan with a special version of our "Betsy" RIGHTS necklace [remember our Haiti efforts].
Living in New York is a daily reminder that we are all immigrants and in a sense we are all Japanese right now. For the text on this particular necklace we chose the identifier for the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. This Public Law (PUB.L.) abolished the national-origin quotas that had been in place in the United States since the Immigration Act of 1924.
*16" sterling silver necklace
*PUB.L. 89-236 is the 236th Public Law enacted by the 89th Congress of the United States
*A Donation of $30/necklace will be made to the Red Cross
FOR MORE b-side FROM ken & dana design, CLICK HERE.
**UPDATE** Brought back to the top because... We now know who (at least) shot the photo for the cover for Nicki, but... Remaining is the question: Did this guy ALSO 'design' the cover itself?
As of now, both Nicki Minaj's 1st and Kanye West's 5th studio albums are set to drop November 22, 2010. (But we all know how that goes...)
No matter what, when you discuss the artists and their releases, ART is/will be the operative word. Their music (their art) is crazy; their actions (performance art?) are crazy; and their album artwork (art, duh) is, well, crazy. (And, in most cases, we mean 'crazy good'...)
Hip Hop wins.
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy [cover art by George Condo]
Click the image above to see what the album cover looks like on iTunes. Click here to see Kanye's 'short film' for his song "Runaway".
Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday [cover photography by GL Wood]
Click the image above for Nicki's greatest verse. Click here to find out why, in the image above, Nicki has... no hands. Click here to visit the official Nicki site.
Don't sweat the oversight. You'll get me on the next one ;)
INFLUENCERS is a short documentary that explores what it means to be an influencer and how trends & creativity become contagious today in music and fashion.
Directed by Paul Rojanathara and Davis Johnson, the film is a Polaroid snapshot of New York influential creatives (advertising, design, fashion and entertainment) who are shaping today's pop culture.
With the sponsorship of Opera Gallery, the pop-up exhibition was held in an extravagant triplex retail space in the heart of New York’s Soho district... [T]he location was transformed by Ron & gang over the course of a week to give the audience the full experience of “Popaganda“. — Arrested Motion
To understand this piece better please read the text before watching. If you already watched the video without reading the text, please read the text then watch the video again.
Full text below the video.
Last year I was traveling for 3-months around Europe and spent 2 weeks in Paris. One day when I was walking around Paris I found this spot but unfortunately I had just 1 day before my flight to Rome. After observing the large concrete frame on the wall, it gave me a lot of inspiration for several ideas on how to creatively interact with the un-used frame and location. One idea was to juxtapose an “art thief” stealing a popular painting like the Mona Lisa from the frame. I felt the idea and site-specific stencil would interact well with the un-used frame and the fact that the Mona Lisa is located just 10 minutes away inside the Louvre museum.
Time always changes things and with that new situations arise. Since last year when I was in Paris I’ve noticed a lot of new topics in street art and more importantly the thievery of art works in the street. I felt it more interesting and relative to have the art thief portrayed in the stencil stealing a piece of art that actually gets stolen quite often. The English artist Banksy is one of the most popular street artists and highly publicized victims of his street artworks being stolen. It’s not by random chance this happens to Banksy’s art as first and foremost he makes great work but also due to the fact that his indoor works have sold for several hundred thousand dollars you can imagine when he paints outside in the street his works are soon sought after by thieves.
It’s an interesting concept and somewhat of an irony as we the artists and the thieves are both working in an illegal manner. One illegal activity inspires another. The artist paints illegally with spray cans on a wall, while the thieves jack hammer and chip off illegally painted walls, illegally. It’s kind of like the pot calling the kettle black to a degree. I took the initiative to comment and create a situation in this piece that could mimic both illegal acts simultaneously executed here in the painting and in the process.
Many years ago before Banksy’s mass appeal he painted his popular rat image that read, “Because I’m worthless.” Times have changed Banksy is a common household name as well as the increased value of his artworks. I felt like it would be applicable to the current state of affairs to appropriate his previous statement to “Because now I’m worth it” to reflect the past and current thievery of his street artworks.
“A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to” Banksy
As stated on the site... "266 sobriquets from the world of rap music, arranged according to semantics. 18" x 24". Printed on 100-pound paper on a digital offset press by the CMYK masters at Precise Continental Corp in DUMBO, Brooklyn. $20.00."
To purchase, click the image above. HINT: You can also zoom in, if you click the image.
Like AWKWORD's World View, the GUN reclamation project is dedicated to combating gun violence on our streets.
Support these artists/activists -- and look fresh doing it.
ROCK THIS:
Living in NYC, it often seems we never go more than a week without hearing of a tragedy caused by guns and violence.
Rather than spend our energy on fear or contempt, we've decided to take this instrument that represents violence and reframe it as symbols of non-violence. Sourcing from gun manufacturers, we transform gun parts into jewelry; and with each sale, proceeds are donated to a nyc buyback program to get more guns off the street.
Through this program, the D.A.'s office and the NYPD partner with local churches to offer $200 bank cards for any firearm turned in at one of their one day events. Since 2008, 5700 guns have been taken off New York's streets.
(As written by Ken Leung and Dana Chin (ken & dana design))
