Smoke Break #737: Street Artist Explains By Way of An Apology

You’re forgiven, Vinchen (via Wooster Collective).

The Largest Work Ever By Pablo Picasso Now Showing In London

Picasso’s biggest piece of art, the mural Deux Femme Courant Sur La Plage, measures 34ft by 38ft, dwarfing his famous Guernica painting (a mere 11ft by 26ft). It has been in storage for most of its 80+ years of existence, and is now on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Hegemony of The At-At As A 21st Century Icon Continues, Part 3

As we’ve noted before, “the Imperial Snow Walker (aka AT-AT) from Star Wars’ Empire Strikes Back remains as strong a feature on our cultural and mythological landscapes as vampires and unicorns…” Today, above, we bring you an amazing animation of a canine imitating micro-walker, going about his daily business, and remind you below of our argument for the creature’s inclusion to the hallowed pantheon.

There have been plenty of mechanical things that have wormed their way into the cultural zeitgeist since the advent of motion pictures. Terminator, the Transformers, and HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey spring immediately to mind (there are many others), but these are devices that have been made conscious through the wonders of alien or domestic technologies, and will almost certainly be cast aside as so much cultural detritus (like Care Bears and Klingons). What I instead see sticking around is a device, something that is manipulated. I’m not talking about the X-wing or the Tie-fighter, or even the Millenium Falcon. None of Lucas’ machines – despite being cool enough for young lads and lasses to drop dimes on (for diecast and plastic replicas in minitaure) – exist outside of their original contexts, except one.

I’m referring, of course, to the menacing AT-AT, also known as the Imperial Snow Walker, first seen in Lucas’ second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back.

When I first saw these quadrupedal giants emerging from the snowy haze, advancing on the rebel defense lines on the ice planet of Hoth, my seven year old ass froze in its movie theater seat. Here was a machine that instilled more dread than a Panzer tank, more joy than a Spitfire, and more envy than Magnum’s red Ferrari. So strong was its appeal that it’s almost as if — like the creatures of the classical world — the AT-AT had always existed in the imagination without ever having been seen for real. And like the beasties conjured by the ancients, it now exists outside its original context. Today, the AT-AT just is...on t-shirts, as graffiti, as pop art, as deviant public fornicator, as dessert, as audio design…even as dutiful pet.

For confirmation, check out the gallery of found images that we’ve compiled below: Read more

The Restaurant Trade Was Once A Den Of Depraved Criminals…

Artist Dr. Lou Jacobs has put together a pretty interesting show in Portland, Maine called “Food Industry Mug Shots 1899-1954″. From Good:

On March 12, 1942, Donald Smith, a cook in Iowa, was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct. His case history describes his crime: “During an altercation in the kitchen of the Red Feather Cafe, subject stabbed one Ted Anderson with a butcher knife.”

Maybe bad-ass chefs like Anthony Bourdain and David Chang aren’t really anything new. Restaurants have seedy, sometimes violent, underbellies. And sometimes, cooks get caught doing what they shouldn’t.

Four years ago, Dr. Lou Jacobs found a mug shot and started collecting original images from the dark side of the food world. He found bartenders, cooks, and waiters who had been pushed over the edge and were accused of murder, theft, pimping and pandering, and drunken and disorderly conduct.

So not much has changed. See more of Jacobs’ curated mugshots here.

PS. The genial Ted Anderson, chef de cuisine at West 4th’s Refuel, is perfectly fine.

Taking 21st Century Web Services Back To The Late 1960’s

(via Laughing Squid) I get a kick out of these. The book covers by artist Stéphane Massa-Bidal are based on a popular 1960’s technical instruction textbook series, only they’ve morphed into manuals for 21st century web services like Wikipedia, Twitter, and Facebook. See a few up close after the leap… Read more

Hegemony of the Snow Walker as 21st Century Icon Continues

In our afternoon inbox we discover more evidence that the Imperial Snow Walker (aka AT-AT) remains as strong a feature on our cultural and mythological landscapes as vampires and unicorns. If you’ve never seen our body of evidence, click after the jump: Read more

Overthinking The Aesthetics Of Publishing In One Easy Lesson…

A German art house print periodical changes its name with every issue in order to announce a monthly change in the magazine’s primary typeface. Seriously.

NYC Hotel Video Mural Depicts Stylized Ascent Into Heaven…

This video mural by Marco Brambilla is both gorgeous and startling. It reminds me of the crazier, more apocalyptic works of Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel, sped up from a 16th century medium to one more emblematic of the 21st…  Read more

Meet The Wooden Toy Block Set That I’d Never Give My Kids…

Oh man, but the kid in me still thinks it’s 84% awesome (that’s pretty kickass). It’s from Dutch designer Tomm Velthuis. See what it builds after the leap… Read more

Inserting The Present Into The Past With “Imagine Finding Me”

I’m a sucker for old family photographs. The walls in my home are overwhelmed with evidence of that. I just love the way each photograph documents a point in my life. I particularly have a soft spot for snapshots from the 70’s – those accidental and slightly softer moments captured – like me running naked through tidal pools on an uncrowded Spanish Banks against the backdrop of a younger (and shorter) Vancouver skyline. I guess I like them because they take me back to that time. They remind me of who I am and where I came from. Read more

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