If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives)

Judging Art By Its Cover. The Book Sculptures Of Mike Stilkey.

Los Angeles based artist Mike Stilkey's wall mountable book sculptures are stacked books whose spines and covers are painted with acrylics and colored pencil to form one image. His elongated forms of humans and animals with thin features are both simultaneously ghoulish and beautiful. And his style is clearly reminiscent of late German expressionism.

above: Dog Playing Dead, 2008, ink, colored pencil and acrylic on books, 26 x 10.5 x 6 inches

Take a look at his wonderful book sculptures (all the images below are composites of individual sculptures by If It's Hip, It's Here):

The following images are from his show solo "Words Fail Me" at David B. Smith Gallery in Denver, last September. Images courtesy of Daily du Jour:

You can purchase some of the above book sculptures at the following galleries:

BLK/MRKT Editions
David B. Smith Gallery
Gilman Contemporary

The artist at work:

Artist's Bio:
b. 1975 in Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles native Mike Stilkey has always been attracted to painting and drawing not only on vintage paper, record covers and book pages, but on the books themselves. Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer, Stilkey depicts a melancholic and at times a whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales. A lingering sense of loss and longing hints at emotional depth and draws the viewer into their introspective thrall with a mixture of capricious poetry, wit, and mystery. His work is reminiscent of Weimar-era German expressionism and his style has been described by some as capturing features of artists ranging from Edward Gorey to Egon Schiele.

His more recent work has been shown at Kinsey/DesForges Gallery in Culver City, CA, David B. Smith Gallery in Denver, CO, Gilman Contemporary Gallery, Ketchum, ID, and Rice University Gallery, Houston, TX.

Visit the artist's site here.

Fecal face has a great interview and visit to the artist's studio with tons more pics. Check it out here.

Dialing For Dollars. Russian Bejewelled Luxury Mobile Phone Goes On Sale.

Seems we can't get enough of luxury mobile phones and Russia's Isse is yet another player in that arena. And right now their newest model, The Monaco, is reduced in price by over $1000 each. And PS. each comes in an exotic wood music box.

ISSE was established in 2005 and unites the efforts of specialists from Europe and Russia in design, jewelery art, marketing and high tech. As a result they offer exclusive limited edition jewel encrusted mobile phones.

The newest addition to their line is the Monaco.
With the efforts of the best specialists from Milan, Moscow and New York, four original models of the Monaco were created.

The front panel of the phone is entirely done of gold and silver. The design of the metal is done by applying the technique of “heated enamel”.

A real 1.5 carat diamond, natural ruby, garnet and topaz are embedded in the phone. The display is protected from bruising by a specially created sapphire glass. A multi-step hand grinding, engraving, polishing of the corpus and different ways to apply the platinum, gold, silver and color-stable enamel, stress the individuality of each model. In total 60 technological steps are needed for the creation of such a phone.

For each ISSE “Monaco” phone, adhering to the age-old Italian traditions, a bejewelled hand-made case is created. Each is made from different pieces of rare woods. Inside there is an original Swiss musical mechanism.

When the case is finished it is being locked by an individual key and the music dies away until its owner chooses to replay it.

“Monaco it’s our third collection of exclusive phones,” – says the ISSE’s general director Vladislav Mukhin, -“for its creation we were inspired by the atmosphere of the European paradise – princedom Monaco.

Each model has preserved the emotion and beauty of Monaco: its azure coast, fashionable villas, snow-white yachts, burring in verdure gardens and the excitement and profusion of Monte Carlo. And even the midday sun shines as if it was diademed (sic) in a golden crown, surrounded by diamonds and rubies.”

The Monaco Exclusive (blue or gold):

The front panel is entirely done of white gold
Heated black enamel
130 diamonds of a 1,5 Ct weight (VS1 quality), topaz.
Sapphire glass
The corpus is covered by a resistant turquoise enamel
Colors: blue and gold

Price  was :$ 3,900 now on sale for: $ 2,100

Monaco Sun (red, white, black or gold):

The front panel is entirely done of white gold
Heated black enamel
45 diamonds of a 0,5 Ct weight (VS1 quality), topaz.
Sapphire glass
The corpus is covered by a resistant turquoise enamel
Colors: White, red, black and gold

Price:  was $ 3,500 now on sale for $ 1,990

Monaco Goldkin (gold or red):

Price : was $ 3,400, now on sale for $ 1,900

Other models:

Each bejewelled hand-made Monaco comes with:
▪ ISSE mobile phone
▪ Charging facilities
▪ Extra accumulator
▪ Soft cover
▪ Hands-free
▪ Instruction
▪ Guarantee stub
▪ Owner certificate
▪ Certificate on precious stones and metals
▪ Certificate of the Ministry of communication of Russian Federation

You may order the phone or get additional information contacting by:
+7 (495) 585-9655

learn more here.

1st Dibs Does Windows. A Look At New York Holiday Store Window Displays.

The collective online antique and upscale furniture and decor site 1st Dibs, has begun a lovely tradition of sharing images from some of New York stores' holiday windows. So, now I can share them with you.

Enjoy! (click on the images to enlarge)

Bergdorf Goodman:

Barney's New York:

Bloomingdale's:

Saks Fifth Avenue:

Linda Horn:

Ralph Lauren:

Tiffany & Co:

With Packaging Like This, I Don't Care What It Smells Like - Shigenobu Twilight

Shigenobu Twilight by Anicka Yi & Maggie Peng

This is the first handcrafted scent by NY artist Anicka Yi and architect Maggie Peng. The fragrance is inspired by the Fusako Shigenobu, former leader of the Japanese Red Army, who was believed to be in exile in Lebanon for many years after orchestrating some of the group's most political statements.

Yi and Peng have chosen cedar wood as a central theme of this fragrance's narrative, as cedar is highly regarded in Lebanon as a national emblem. The scent uses three different kinds of cedar wood as its base note, along with violet leaf and nutty heart notes, and top notes of yuzu, shiso leaf, and black pepper. The packaging for this hand-distilled fragrance is made of raw cedar wood, each bottle uniquely (and painstakingly) hand-cut by the creators in architectural geometry, encasing a 10ml glass bottle of liquid within.