I remember seeing Neckface tags when I lived in Brooklyn 4 or 5 years ago- and his rise to what I equate to be basically street-art-stardom has been fun to watch. Sneaker Freaker has a few exclusive shots and details on his newest collaboration with Vans. Apparently he was offered a sneaker deal with Nike (unconfirmed), but for whatever reason ended up going with Vans instead. We like the results– I can only hope these are limited edition and we’ll see some more in the series. This is the Sk8 High– pictures of the two lows and some detail shots after the jump.
READ MORE…

By now we’ve all seen the awe-inspiring Sony Bravia commercial, Bouncy Balls, that sent 250,000 multi-coloured ’superballs’ bouncing down the streets of San Francisco. The beautiful mood was set by guitarist José Gonalez– we’ve come to know and love his debut Album ‘Veneer’, and subsequent mashups. The latest TV ad simply called ‘Paint‘, directed by Jonathan Glazer (Radiohead, Jamiroquai), features massive paint explosions which took 10 days and 250 people to film. Like the Bouncy Balls spot, this commercial is truly inspiring. After the filming it took 5 days and 60 people to clean up every drop of paint– good thing it was a special non-toxic water-based blend which was easy to scrape-up once the water evaporated.

Remember those ODM Watches I blogged about back in November of 2004? If you’re just tuning in, probably not. Either way, the original watches were a huge hit– winning the prestigious Red dot design award and the IF design award in China. One of our favorite character illustrators/animators recently designed his own set– extremely limited edition and very hard to find, until now. The Jon Burgerman ODM watch was made in conjunction with the Trexi ‘We Speak Football’ series. Functions of the watch are the same, it’s still motion sensitive, and still made of super-comfortable soft white silicone. If you’re unfamiliar with Burgerman’s work, check him out. His wrapping paper and card series (sold out quickly unfortunately) are perfect additions to any holiday arsenal. The watch is £85 shipped inside the UK and £95 outside the UK. One more detail shot of the watch and box after the jump…

READ MORE…

Beat 13, an artist and music collective, was created in Birmingham, UK back in ‘99. The founders, Lucy Mclauchlan and Matt Watkins say it all started with drawing, music instruments came next, and then came the computers. This Rolls Roys, painted live for Kangol back in ‘04 is a nice example of their work. Their current studio, or lab as they call it is situated in the Custard Factory, in Digbeth, UK. They say: Usually we’re busy working upstairs, but if you knock on the door you can come in and browse the gallery downstairs where limited edition art prints, apparel and promophernalia from many of our allies and inspirations are available for purchase. Check out their site for more work.

Start Mobile is getting ready to launch the Richard E. Aaron History Of Rock Mobile Gallery. They’ll be distributing this massive historic chronicle consisting of more than two million photographs of thousands of bands through several hundred US and worldwide carriers. If you’re not familiar with Richard Aaron, he’s basically the quintessential rock star photographer, and the owner of the largest private archive of rock and roll photography in the world. This should be fun, keep your eyes peeled for official launch in a few days.