The Burj Dubai has reached the 141st storey, with a height of 512 meters and it has overtaken Taiwan's 508-meter-tall "Taipei 101" and become the world's tallest building. The Burj Dubai sets to be the Symbol of Dubai by standing at more than 693 meters once it is completed in the oil rich Gulf state at the end of 2008.
This is an artist's rendition of the completed building in 2008:
One of the more unusual and original toys at this year's San Diego Comic-Con:
Originally based on his Fish Head painting, (above) - which is also available as a 13X13 print @ Munky King's booth in an edition of 50 (@ estimated US$60?) I personally think that the realisation work by the sculptor from 2D to it's 3D glory will make this a sure buy for my heaving shelves.
That's right ladies and gentlemen! So common is this voyeuristic sickness that researchers and scientists are shoving more money than they can handle into ladies knickers! I say stop making such advanced camera equipment... then all uf us can be safe in the knowledge that someone isn't watching! Bravo Bravo
The following words are by Brian Ashcraft from the original post:
"For years, schoolgirls have had to be vigilant about jerks with cameras trying to get a panchira (panty-glimpse) up their skirts. But they have an even creepier problem now: Clever degenerates are modifying their videocam's night-vision mode to see right through fabric, revealing all. Enter textile company Cramer Japan, which has developed a nylon and polyurethane weave that blocks infrared rays. The result? ShotGuard Inner Shorts, panties that are impervious to pervs. Adding to the deterrent is that the $17 underwear is available only in a fetish-stifling beige. Next up for Cramer: voyeur-resistant bras."
Probably the world’s oldest graffiti artist, dubbed the "King Of Kowloon" has sadly passed away at the ripe old age of 85. The man was famous in Hong Kong for his bombing style which consisted of densely-packed, obssesive Chinese script arranged in neat lines and scrawled over phone boxes and the sides of pedestrian underpasses.
“The contents of the calligraphy usually contain some or all of the following: his name, his title (King or Emperor of China, Kowloon or Hong Kong, depending); a list of 20 or so ancestors, with new additions from time to time; the names of some famous Chinese emperors and phrases such as, ‘Down with the Queen of England.’” Apparently, the King of Kowloon actually believes he is the king of Kowloon.
Tsang Tsou Choi was thirty-five when he started covering Kowloon with assertions that he was its rightful owner. That was in 1955. Tsang said that, as a young man, he stumbled across a set of documents that indicated that most of Kowloon was owned by his ancestors, before it was ceded to the British in 1860, after the end of the Second Opium War. Of course, none of these documents have ever been proven to exist. That has never deterred Tsang, whose obsession with proving himself as the King of Kowloon drove away his wife and family and earned him a few brief stints in jail.
In a city that until recently was devoted almost entirely to the individual pursuit of wealth, the King’s persistent eccentricity drew attention. He was relentless in his work: if any of his graffiti was painted over, as it frequently was, Tsang would return as soon as the paint dried to scrawl something anew. In the 1990s, a new generation of creative-minded Hong Kongers embraced the King as an “outsider artist” whose minimal literacy and lack of self-consciousness gave him the freedom to reinterpret Chinese writing. AsiaWeek reports that his unique calligraphy has inspired “fashion designers, interior designers and CD cover artists.” In 2003, Tsang was featured in the 50th Venice Biennial. In 2004, a piece of wood he painted fetched US$1,100 at an auction.
Hong Kong may be famously known for skyscrapers, good food and kung-fu action stars; but for the ESPV Team, the King Of Kowloon will forever remain in our hearts as an inspiration to the perserverance of one's art. Rest In Peace Tsang Tsou Choi.
A few new canvases I made last week as gifts for friends Stateside. The Dragon and Octopus are for my girl's nephews, and the Monster in the middle was a house-warming present for some friends in New York. I like to use these little yellow scared faces with an object of fear behind them as I feel it resembles the way society is administered these days.
Sorry, I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago. The Howling Monk toy ESP UK made from scratch for the Evisu Toy Exhibit was finally sold!! It went for a grand total of HKD$1,000 or approximately GBP70 squid. Thanks to A-vibe for sorting out the purchase for us! We hope that Howling Monk protects your office space from any evil...
This was the ESP HKG toy made from scratch by PHilfy:
You can see more pics of the Howling Monk or PHilfy's toy on our Flickr accounts....
Now this is some seriously inspirational stuff for the morning! These guys are battlin' each other despite the fact that they are physically disabled in one way or another.......hats off to the b-boys!
I have always been interested in aquatic biology as well as all the other messed up hobbies/passions shown on this blog and this post was a perfect blend of art and biology. Cabinet Magazine reported the following words:
"Caddis Flies are small winged insects that live near streams and ponds and produce aquatic larvae that protect their developing bodies by manufacturing sheaths, or cases, spun from silk and incorporating substances—grains of sand, particles of mineral or plant material, bits of fish bone or crustacean shell. The larvae are remarkably adaptable: if other suitable materials are introduced into their environment, they will often incorporate those as well.
After collecting the larvae from their normal environments, Hubert Duprat relocates them to his studio where he gently removes their own natural cases and then places them in aquaria that he fills with alternative materials from which they can begin to recreate their protective sheaths. He added semi-precious and precious stones (including turquoise, opals, lapis lazuli and coral, as well as pearls, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds) seen here. Additionally, cases built by one insect and then discarded when it evolves into its fly state are sometimes recovered by other larvae, who may repurpose it by adding to or altering its size and form. "
The pic below is taken of a Caddis Fly in its normal casing;
