GERMANY - CRACKLING SCULPTURES

If it’s possible to make some humans look like grotesque pigs with the help of plastic surgery, why shouldn’t we do it the other way around and turn pigs into grotesque humans? Brazilian artist Zé Carlos Garcia constructs such things, along with super-insects, four-legged animals with wings, Carnival trucks, and a whole bunch of other things.

JESSE EDWARDS DRIVES A PARTY BUS BUT PREFERS CERAMICS

Before Jesse Edwards got his start in oil painting and ceramics, he was running wild in the streets of Seattle, terrorizing all paintable surfaces. I have known of Jesse for some time but never really knew too much about him other than that he had a huge personality, scared the shit out of most people, and ran with the gnarliest graffiti crew in the city. But it turns out he's rather chill--besides painting landscapes of Central Park for your grandparents' living room, he also is working on a pilot for an informative Bob Ross-style how-to-paint show that will air in the next few months. We talked about that and other things as we went for a bike ride when he came to visit New York.

STAN BUSH IS AN INCREDIBLY EASYGOING MAN

I love stupid action movies-- the stupider, the better. I love needlessly ripped millionaires slurring their way through lines written for children by hacks. I love weapon-arming montages and questions answered with explosions and painfully tacked-on love side plots and guns that always slide just out of reach. But most of all, I love the songs in these movies--particularly the uplifting hard rock jams that play during the credits or montages of the really cheesy movies. Thus, it follows that I love Stan Bush, and worship him as my king.

STOCKHOLM — A PEEK AT ERIK TIDEMANN

Norwegian artist Erik Tidemann was raised by his grandparents, who were taxidermists, in a tiny village outside of Trondheim. Still he never felt lonely, see he had a whole house full of action figurines and stuffed animals to play with. 20 years later, he’s still pretty much playing with the same stuff, only in the adult way of doing so: by making art. His The Eazy-E HIV Odyssey exhibition opens in Stockholm tonight at Gallery Steinsland Berliner so pass by if you get the chance.

CANADA - SUPER SOFT SOFT BOOBS AND DINKS

My friend Ewald gave me a knitted tongue and vagina for my birthday last year. What a sweet guy. He found them at a craft fair in Montreal. Toronto artist Shannon Gerard sewed up this super sweet finger fun set that I am holding in my hands, along with other notable genitals Ewald saw on the table that day. 

NEW YORK - I STARED INTO THE VADGE AND IT STARED BACK AT ME

 

You may have missed last Sunday's comic, what with all the smoked animals and beaches and not looking at the computer. Well, Ginette Lapalme made it. She's a quirky little Canadian with big glasses who made a big internet splash by drawing faces onto butts and boobs and giners and such. She's part of a neat little group of Canadians who are doing funny, pretty comics. We interrogated her.

PARIS - ITALY FREAKED OUT ABOUT DICKS, BUT THEY WEREN'T ACTUALLY DICKS

Jacques Charlier is a Belgian artist who has drawn a hundred cartoons representing the sexual organs of modern and contemporary artists. Doesn't sound all that shocking, but when they were to be hung in Venice’s streets for the Biennale last June, both the Mayor of the town and the exhibition’s bosses refusedbecause of the so-called “limits of decency.” Which is weird, because most of these things aren't actually dicks or pussies. He paid no mind, exposed his drawings on a boat in Venice and in other European towns, and is now offering a quiz on his website with a prize for whomever can identify the greatest number of famous genitalia.

STOCKLHOM - PAINT THE PAIN AWAY

You might remember our friend Wim from funny and irreverent articles about rats with peeing disorders, black kids getting harassed by the French police, and the secrets of ER. For reasons explained in Cunts by Nuts, for Nuts, Wim has been going to therapy for about a year now, the kind where you make pictures and sculptures to deal with emotional crisis and express things that you have a hard time formulating with words. Or something, we’re not sure. Wim’s the expert on this actually, so take it away, Wim. 

MOMENTS LIKE THIS ISSUE EXTRA - RAVE ON

As a special treat, we have here some images left over from the article on Gavin Watson's new book, Raving '89. This was the bit of raving that happened before it got all smiley faces and glowsticks. We had a chat with a man called Gary Ellis, who was instrumental in setting up the raves that Gavin was attending in warehouses, fields and the homes of unfortunate kids in 1989. Gary Ellis was the business minded end of the rave scene, and also had a thing for really big mobile phones.

NEW YORK - WISH YOU WERE HERE

Pop-up shops are nothing new in New York City. With insanely high commercial rents and an uncertain economic future, anyone sane would be wary about plunking down tens of thousands of dollars on a five- to ten-year lease. Hence the genius of a pop-up store. Taking up residence in a giant vacant storefront at 186 Orchard Street, Wish You Were Here is the newest summer addition to the trend of transient retail.