“That’s nice wallpaper… is that a… ?!!… oh!” British artist Jonathan Yeo has released a range of wallpaper through Lazarides Gallery. If you’re familiar with Yeo’s work (many of you have probably seen his iconic portrait of former President George W Bush made up from cuttings from pornographic magazines) you’ll know that on closer inspection of his work, and indeed his wallpaper, you’ll be surprised at what you find. The perfect wallpaper for provocateurs!

Find the wallpaper at Lazarides

It’s time to barter for some art again! Following on from last year’s successful Art Barter London, the Art Barter event is now headed for Berlin. Taking place between June 24th — June 27th 2010, Art Barter Berlin will showcase the work of 26 Berlin based artists, both emerging & established.

For those not already familiar with the concept of Art Barter, the event revolves around the idea that artworks will be acquired by individuals through alternative means to money. So it’s not a case of the person with the biggest chequebook winning the art, it’s down to what you as an individual have to offer in exchange for an artwork; it could be a back rub, or it could be a delicious home-made cake! Some of the exchanges that went down last year included everything from 3 months of psychotherapy (hopefully from a trained psychotherapist!), to website design, to 30 hours of French tuition.

The catch is that you don’t know which art work belongs to which artist until after the show’s end. You barter for the work you value, and are willing to barter your own skills for, rather than judging work on an artist’ reputation or possible financial gains. Personally, I love the ‘I Love You’ artwork shown in the image above. I don’t know who the artist is, but if I make it to Berlin, I’ll certainly be bartering my skills in the hope of owning it!

Artists involved: Jonathan Monk, Jason Dodge, Uwe Henneken, Saâdane Afif, John Isaacs, ?Wolfgang Ganter, YudiNoor, Isabelle Graeff, John Kleckner, Ilona Kalnoky, Sophie Holstein, Stefan Rinck, Haralampi Oroschakoff, Evgeni Dybsky, Jeremy Shaw, Clémence Seilles, Charlotte Dualé, Stephan Balleux, Melissa Frost, Alejandro Moncada, Sergio Roger, Yukiko Terada, Ludwig Kreutzer, Ricard Ricard, Pete Wheeler, Kate Bellm.

Venue: Ground floor of the .HBC Project Space, Karl-Liebknecht Straße 9, 10178 Berlin, Germany.

Dates: June 24th: Launch Night, 6pm-late, with DJ Jet Letts & drinks served by Absolut Vodka from 6-9pm June 25th— 27th. Open to the public, Fri/Sat 11am-8pm, Sun 12-9pm.

Find out more at Art Barter.

Art-Star Spangled Banner. In January 2010, Polo Jeans Co. Ralph Lauren commissioned over 51 of Europe’s most exciting young contemporary artists to customise large 3D stars made from the finest American denim.

With the iconic Stars and Stripes flag for inspiration, each young artist was tasked with creating something totally unique: beyond the shapes and sizes of the Art Stars, the only limit was their imaginations. When are the stars are auctioned later this year all the money raised will go to Teenange Cancer Trust.

See the works at Art Stars.

“Creative Life, Documented & Archived.” I’ve just been alerted to a great new website called The Creative Lives which provides video insights into the lives of today’s contemporary artists.

The Creative Lives is a documentary project aimed at inspiring people to create their own work by giving them a view into the world of today’s contemporary artists. Each documentary not only shows how these artists create their work, but also attempts to find out why they do what they do and who has helped or inspired them to get to where they are.

Visit The Creative Lives.

Art that money can’t buy! The problem with being an art-lover that isn’t a millionaire, is that you end up being eternally frustrated that you can’t afford the work of the artists you love. However, a new event might be able to change that.

The Art Barter event revolves around the idea that artwork will be acquired by individuals through alternative means to money. In the past, artists such as Picasso exchanged sketches for his meals, and now, in the present, you have the opportunity to exchange your special talent, skill or offering for the work of one of 50 established and emerging London based artists, including Tracey Emin, Gavin Turk, Tim Noble & Sue Webster. Perhaps you can offer to clean up Tracy Emin’s unmade bed (see what I did there?) in exchange for an artwork?

So if you fancy bartering for some art, head down to The Rag Factory (16—18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ) this weekend with your items to exchange.

Visit Art Barter London for more information.

Want to catch the debut show of a young, up-and-coming artist? Online gallery Hang Up Pictures, in collaboration with advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy London, is launching the debut solo show of Alex Daw, a multi-talented contemporary artist, at the agency’s new space ‘The Cole’ situated in The Old Truman Brewery in London’s Brick Lane area. The exhibition, sponsored by Havana Club, will run until Sunday 29th November.

The artist, Alex Daw, brings his warped view of the world of fashion, status and advertising via his ongoing series of compelling contemporary mementos of modern life. He utilises anything at his disposal – he cuts and paints on a number of surfaces. Culling fragments of pop culture, fashion and art history, Daws’ obsessive nature to critique and de-construct objects, results in cut up magazines, and paintings on canvas and glass pieces.

If the art doesn’t grab you then there’ll also be lot’s to drink and eat. Havana Club are sponsoring the show – there will be enough rum on-site to create 400 cocktails and caterer extraordinaire Matt Phelps aka Fun Thyme will be catering live on site.

To find out more about the exhibition, or to reserve a place at the private view, click here.

They say he plays the banjo & drinks whisky. The illustrator Stevie Gee has a solo show entitled ‘Vengence is Coming’ over at Jaguarshoes 32-34 Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, London E2 8DA. It’s up for six weeks, so if you’re in the neighborhood, you can pop in and see the custom bike paint jobs by Death Spray Custom, prints, tomahawks, screen prints, T’s, etc.

See more images from the show here.

I’m a couple of years late on this but… once upon a time there was an exhibition of lasered skateboard art. The exhibition allowed a select group of global artists to explore the idea of lasering away at seven layers of ply, in order to make their mark on skateboard decks. Only 50 will be produced per artist. Those 50 are available through the Refill 7 Shop.

For old school value, my personal fave is Mark Drew’s design, although at 500 australian dollars a pop it seems a bit pricey for me (although, in all honesty I have no idea of the value of the australian dollar. That might be cheap. I’m just too lazy to find out.)

See more images on Flickr.

Parra this, Parra that! Parra, yada, yada! First off in Parra related news – Arkitip are presenting Parra’s first ever Exhibition and Pop Up Shop in Germany. Find out more here

Secondly, and more importantly, LOOK AT MY PARRA SHOES!!! (gotta click ‘more…’ to see ‘em though!)
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No need for facts. All I know about the artist Genta Kosumi is that he was born in 1974 in Osaka, Japan and his artwork is colorful, bizarre and, above all, amazing. Check out his work at Cosmo Head Anno.