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Our blog-friends over at core77 did a great job of covering London’s Design Festival while we were traveling, but we want to tell you about about the existance of Urban Gnomes making their debut at the festival. Vitamin Living has taken the gnome out of the flowerbed and put them in the city. As many of our readers will know, life is rough on the street (and pricy, as these gnomes are £50), but these little guys are more adept at the hussle than your traditional red hat and white fuffy beard gnome. Have a look at the Vitamin’s online store.
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While partnerships between urban artists and urban brands are nothing unusual, a collaboration between Brooklyn-based designer Dalek and Serbia’s Carrot Clothing is exciting news. As Serbia’s first streetwear company, Carrot Clothing aims to infuse the global art, skate and street communities with its own perspective and history. Carrot first began printing T-shirts bearing anti-war messages for family and friends back in 1999 — a move which landed him in jail. These days, things are looking up: the collection is available in more than 20 countries and features. Now following up June’s successful shirt and print collab with Dalek, Carrot has a new Dalek x Carrot skateboard available. Limited edition of 100.
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Only months after the tagging fiasco at a graduation show at the Sao Paulo private art university Belas Artes, a different [UPDATE: APPARENTLY ORGANIZED BY THE SAME GUY AS THE PREVIOUS INCIDENT] gang of 30 pixadores took matters into their own hands and launched an attack on Choque Cultural, the city’s premier street art gallery. Last Saturday the group descended into the gallery and tagged up the walls, paintings (which thankfully were protected inside glass frames, including Gerald Laing’s) and ceilings of the small space in their unique calligraphy in a protest move against what they see as Choque Cultural’s involvement in helping to commercialize an art form — street art — that they believe should stay on the street. As we all know, it’s not a new debate and for the gallery even bad press is good press. Check out the Flickr account from one of the pixadores to see photos of the manifestation.
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While Singapore is not often considered a streetwear capital, subterranean youth culture brews almost anywhere. Through various product partnerships and creative clothing lines, Flesh Imp is giving Singaporean youth an expressive outlet through style, and in many ways driving a fashion revolution. While the brand is still young (they just celebrated their 7th anniversary this past December with a collabo with Adidas), they are making moves, their most recent project being limited edition Coke Zero gear. Founder Vincent Q has some poignant things to say about the burgeoning Singaporean street culture and hopes to expand Flesh Imp’s influence from the unique mix that is his city.
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 Scottish artist Iain Hetherington has found a way to mix baseball caps and gold chains with abstract art. His paintings explore racial themes amongst the working class, bringing a street savvy edge to the underlying satire by splattering a portrait's facial features and using visual prompts to define his subjects. A collection of Hetherington’s work is on display this Monday in the Upper Gallery of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Be quick, because the show only runs for eight days (August 4th through the 11th).
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 Have you ever walked down the street and had someone give you a couple grand? Better yet, have you found large amounts of money all wrapped up in a pretty label? No? Then you should move to London. For the past five years artist Adam Neate has been littering the streets of the city with cardboard paintings tacked onto bus stops or leaning against light polls. Passersby typically don't know that these rubbish masterpieces have been hot items for art collectors ever since Neate's gallery exhibitions have sold out consistently for big bucks. We hope the irony that this expensive art serves a double purpose as wino's pillow isn’t lost on Neate. A collection of his new work is being shown in the more traditional means at Elms Lester's Painting Rooms alongside American Ron English in The Adam and Ron Show.
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  The story of MOB reads something like any other history-in-the-making type tale: Founder Leah sat on her stoop in NYC, drinking tequila in effort to fill the gaping void that was women’s streetwear in 2004. Two margaritas and one stroke of genius later, MOB (a tribute to Leah’s crew, the Most Official Bitches) was born, an urban label that has since become one of the most repected in their category. Technically, I should have written about this line after spotting some of their snarky tee’s at Denver’s the 400 months ago, or at least before most of their spring collection was sold out. But it’s better late than never for this women’s-only line, because the stuff that is left is still cooler than anything else out there. Because MOB’s apparel is designed by women/for women, their resulting product has the same strong urban energy as a lot of the men’s offerings in that area, but manages to deliver a totally different product. In other words, the edge of men’s street wear is evident in MOB’s designs, but it’s communicated in a decidedly girly fashion (that allows for girls like me to pull it off without looking like losers). You can shop from MOB’s own online store, but a deeper search through small sites like Azita might help you find some of this seasons tough-to-find leftovers.
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 The great thing to me about the whole “street art” scene is how it is a truly global phenomenon. Language barriers are virtually non-existant because all communication is made via the art itself. And in that sense it’s always interesting to see how things are being said in other parts of the world. Tembokbomberis a wonderful website run for and by street artists in Indonesia. There you will find everything from photos of street walls, art by Indonesian as well as international talent, and quality interviews of artists that range from well-known American artist Dalek, to local Jakarta-based Morden.Some of the interviews and posts are in Indonesian, but the images provide all the words any art lover would ever need. Check it out!- Scott Kobayashi
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