Secretive British street artist Banksy has unveiled his latest project, a mock pet supply store at 89 Seventh Avenue South (near Bleecker Street) in Greenwich Village. “The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill”, is Banksy’s first official exhibition in New York and his first to make the use of animatronics.

The New York Times reports on the installation: “Open for Pet Supplies/Rare Breeds/Mechanically retrieved meat” says a sign in front of the shop. Bales of hay dot the sidewalk, along with a kiddie dolphin ride, wrapped in a fishing net like the day’s catch. But it is the leopard in one of the storefront windows that stops passers-by first. ‘Is that — real?’ a woman asked on Wednesday, peering at a large furry object perched on a tree branch, its tail swinging. It’s not: it is an ingeniously arranged fake fur coat. The robot monkey is more lifelike: it sits, breathing, in a cage inside the store, wearing headphones, holding a remote and watching a television clip of some fellow monkeys in an amorous moment.”

Said Banksy in a statement: “I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming.”

the exhibit it will be open to the public daily through Oct. 31.

Source: The New York Times

Julianne Moore and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, are the latest celebrities to be transformed into cartoon characters for Disney’s “Year Of A Million Dreams” Dream Portrait campaign which involves world-famous athletes, actors and musicians re-enacting classic Disney scenes.

Read more »

Emile Hirsch in issue 93 of Flaunt. Photograph by David Lachapelle.

Read more »

Poolside at the Saul Bass residence in Altadena, California, 1958. Architects: Buff, Straub & Hensman. Kodachrome by Julius Shulman.

“For a long time Brendan Dawes’ saulbass.net was probably the most popular online destination for devotees of the great designer and film title director, Saul Bass. The website was lost when Dawes did what many of us do: neglected to renew the domain. Fortunately, it’s back again in most of its former glory at saulbass.tv.”

Source: Typographica

Read more »

Madrid based photographer Biel Capllonch’s edgy images combine sexiness and surrealism in one sleek package.

You can check out the impressive body of work, by surfing over to Biel’s site The Watching Machine.