PIEK! is an art group based in Amsterdam. Damien Hirst is a contemporary British artist. PIEK! appears to be just starting out; Damien Hirst has exhibited all over the world and his piece The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living sold to an American hedge fund gazillionaire for 8 million dollars.

Before Hirst became a world-famous artist/bad boy he worked at a mortuary where he learned about various preserving chemicals. This is by way of explanation, because The Physical Impossibility is actually a 14-foot dead tiger shark swimming in formaldehyde within a really big aquarium. Hirst deals with death in his art quite a bit. What does this have to do with those PIEK! guys? Well, PIEK! has just made some art which references Hirst called Damien Hirst Trips Over a Diamond the Size of His Head and Dies. It’s a miniature figurine which shows poor Damien lying prostrate on the ground, blood rushing from his head, with the offending diamond at his feet. Hirst has made a living off of displaying dead things, and so PIEK! says that their piece is an ironic take on his oeuvre, and his just desserts. I’m not sure if that’s actual irony or Alanis Morissette irony, but you can decide that for yourself while you look at PIEK!’s website.

– Dan Steckenberg

Ooh, this sounds good: “An online talent search engine designed to connect the creative class with enthusiasts around the world.” If “enthusiasts” means clients (also known as jobs) like I think it does, the new Global Talent Database sounds like a great new way to help independent artists and performers connect with the people who need them. By allowing creative types to create a free listing (that can include their portfolio), the site makes it easy for potential customers to find them and hire them. To make sure each artist is given equal chance for exposure, popularity and ranking on the site is determined via community feedback and a variety of networking/socialization features built into the site (instead of the “number of friends” systems used elsewhere). The artists that use the site can also take advantage of the genre-relevant, pre-filtered newsfeeds that will help them stay on top of the news and trends that affect their industries — a thoughtful addition to a networking site. The site was officially launched only yesterday, but it looks like they’ve reached fast popularity within several of their twenty artistic categories. Only time will tell with GTB, but it is free, so if this looks like something *hypothetically* useful, I say…go for it.

We have been following Spear Collective Member Tom Judd’s Everyday illustration efforts since he completed a full year of daily drawings in 2005. On July 1st, he embarked on a refreshed and committed journey to complete another year’s worth of magic. Tom is going to be attending a two-year Master’s Program at the Royal College of Art in London, so I’m excited (to say the least) to see how his graduate work filters into and enlightens his Everyday portfolio. Tom also has an RSS feed for Everyday so you can have each day’s illustration uploaded, without hassle, to your RSS reader. Following Tom as he works closer and closer to his 365-day goal gives you a deep appreciation for the quality of his illustrations, but more than anything, it’s just damn impressive to see him churn out these intricate and deep works of art day, after day, after day…

UK-based graphic designer Neil Duerden revealed some new work recently, and the results are absolutely stunning. His mixture of organic imagery, vector designs and photography creates an impressive mosaic of patterns and colors that takes center stage even when he’s producing work for a diverse set of clients, including Nike, Vespa, Vivienne Westwood, D&G, and others. He has a limited number of prints available for purchase, but be sure to check back with his site often as there is new art yet to be posted, plus upcoming desktop wallpaper designs, and more goodies. Follow Neil’s site to his teammates at Modern English for even more compelling design from across the pond.

We’re all super excited about our Spear Collective Computer Arts cover this month, and because we believe that reciprocity is a beautiful thing, we’re hoping you’ll take a few minutes to go over to the Computer Arts forum and cast a vote in our honor. It requires a little bit of effort (registering for the forums, etc) but we’d really appreciate it. And, if you’re so lovely to do so, leave me a comment here and I’ll see if we can’t dig up some goodies for a few of you if we win the poll. Sound good? GOOD!

I say this with no shame: I want my MTV. In the ’80s, people used to mean it when they uttered those four words, but when the ’90s came roaring in with demands to rake in more viewers, MTV changed their format to include more generic, mass-appeal programming. But redemption has come in their QOOB TV; an experimental channel, QOOB’s main medium is through Italian cable TV but it’s been streaming live through its Italian Web site — and now with an American incarnation — for ages, allowing those in the know to watch new music videos, uninterrupted, one after another for 24 hours a day from wherever they have an Internet connection (sorry, Josh, you’ll need a fast one). The vids from indie and alternative artists like Bloc Party and UNKLE are mixed in with really stellar short films and digital animations submitted from viewers through the site, a place for social networking that works as a breeding ground for digital-shorts filmmakers. QOOB puts up the ones they like most in between music videos, essentially launching unknowns to their broad audience of viewers, and they’ll even go so far as to give you money for your submissions. In other words, it’s a totally revolutionary take on programming, giving MTV back the reputation for progressive TV that got us all joining their church in the first place. I’m eternally grateful for QOOB, because I’m still with it and can maintain my side of the discussion over the crappy Mark Ronson “Stop Me” cover (I beg to differ, darlin’. That song is the JAM. –ed.) with friends over IM from here in Sao Paulo.

When I had the idea to form an artist collective and ultimately launched the Spear Collective with Jamie this March, we had no idea that we would garner such incredible recognition in such a short period of time. This month, our esteemed collective appears on the front cover of Computer Arts– the world’s best-selling creative magazine. The cover is 1 of 3 limited edition artist-covers that hits news stands today. For this project, Chris Cox, Dan Funderburgh and Ingi Erlingsson collaborated on a design to help share both our collective aesthetic and their vision of true collaboration. The cover itself is seriously awesome, and the inside story sheds some light on the step by step process the three guys used to create the cover.

The collective has been — and remains — one of our passion projects, and we’re humbled to be surrounded with such diverse and distinguished artistic talent. When we assembled these 26 “chosen ones” and began to sense the group dynamic build, we knew something special had been set in motion. Head out to your local news stand pick up this issue– it may be worth something one day. And to the entire Spear Collective: you make us proud! Keep your eyes peeled for more Spear Collective projects coming very, very soon.