Top 10 May 22

10 more things!
Enjoy the best of the web.

/Jxx

1. We Fun - A Rockumentary about the Atlanta Scene

The Black Lips, Deerhunter, and other Atlanta bands star in this behind-the-scenes doc chronicling the city's uniquely scuzzy rock scene. The 72-minute film directed by Matthew Robison is shown in its entirety.

See the documentary HERE

2. José Manuel Hortelano

José Manuel Hortelano is an illustrator and portraitist born in a tiny town in the south of Spain in 1979. He is interested in a new and contemporary view of portraiture that connects via social networking and other methods of Internet collaboration. Last year, he began working professional with Rolling Stone and El País newspaper. Using watercolor — where lighting is particularly important to the paintings' composition — as his primary technique, Hortelano always attempts to unveil the flesh as a cornerstone of energy and humanity. He instills each of his drawings with intimacy and tries to catch the eye of the watcher with some gaze and flirtatious look.

See more work by José HERE

3. 48 Hour Ad Contest

Make the ad, spread the word and go to Cannes.
The Young Lions Contest at Cannes Lion International Advertising festival.
The two winners from the 48 Hour Ad Contest will be teamed up in Cannes to form team Youtube and compete against 37 other teams from all around the world in the Young Lion Film Competition. Teams are issued with mobile phone and have 48 hours to shoot and edit a 60-second commercial on behalf of a charity.

Check out the site HERE

4. James Roper

James on his work: The construction of each painting fuses disparate images from a variety of sources such as fashion magazines, animation stills, comics, the Internet as well as my own photo’s and drawings. I predominantly choose images and try to create forms which I feel register a visual ‘peak shift’, a term given to the phenomena of ‘neurological attraction’ that appears in both humans and animals to an extreme characterisation of an object. Peak shift has been suggested by the neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran as one of the ‘10 universal laws of art’.

This peakshift is present within advertising, Hollywood blockbusters and Haute couture fashion as well as in the extreme forms of body exaggeration found in bodybuilding and pornography. Japanese animation, which also uses this technique, has for some time informed my painting style and is where I appropriated images exclusively for my ‘Hypermass’ series. By isolating out what I see as the crucial parts of such images and collaging them together into the work my intention is to intensify these visual triggers even further so they
form a sort of neurological hyperactivity.

Another hyper-stylistic visual form which has informed my painting is that of Catholic iconography from the Baroque period, specifically in the sculptural work of Bernini. Bernini used the technique of exaggeration in the folds in robes, body structure and cloud formations to express an abstract form of ’spiritual energy’. But in contrast to their subjects stoic origins the aesthetic of Bernini’s work manifests as lustful and extremely materialistic, and within the theatrical architecture of the cathedral or church (the expressive Baroque style
has part of its genesis in opera), acts more as a form of psychological escapism than that of a form through which religious truth can be revealed. Religion constructed as a Baudrillardian hyperreality in which intensified or peakshifted models of reality seem ‘more real than real’ and the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred. But, what seems at first to be a form of escapism from the ‘Desert of the Real’ can also act as a stimulus to wake us up to reality. Just as the Zen master hits his student and as a result the student attains his enlightenment, a jolt in the senses via an intensified version of reality can allow us to see how intensely real and visceral our direct physical relationship with our world really is.
(Via artist a day)

See his portfolio HERE

5. Antichrist - Lars Von Trier

CANNES, France (Reuters) - Danish director Lars von Trier elicited derisive laughter, gasps of disbelief, a smattering of applause and loud boos on Sunday as the credits rolled on his drama "Antichrist" at the Cannes film festival.

The film, starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a couple seeking to overcome the grief of losing their only child, has quickly become the most talked-about at this year's festival, which ends on May 24.

Cannes' notoriously picky critics and press often react audibly to films during screenings, but Sunday evening's viewing was unusually demonstrative.

Jeers and laughter broke out during scenes ranging from a talking fox to graphically-portrayed sexual mutilation.

Many viewers in the large Debussy cinema also appeared to take objection to von Trier's decision to dedicate his film to the revered Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky. Applause from a handful of viewers was drowned out by booing at the end.

Antichrist opens with a heavily stylized, black-and-white, slow-motion portrayal of the child's accidental death set to soaring music by Handel.

Dafoe's character, who is a therapist, tries to help his wife deal with her grief and encourages her to come off heavy medication that sedates her for weeks after the death.

They decide to go to an isolated wooden cabin in an unspecified forest to recover, but the woman Gainsbourg portrays loses control of her senses.

The abuse she submits herself and her husband to drew shocked gasps from the audience.

The reaction suggested that von Trier, who won the top prize in Cannes with "Dancer in the Dark" in 2000, could be in for a rough ride from reviewers and journalists on Monday.

One U.S. critic said he and others found the film "offensive," and questioned why it was included in the main competition of 20 films in Cannes.

In production notes for Antichrist, the 53-year-old director said that the movie was a "kind of therapy" for depression he was suffering from two years ago.

"I can offer no excuse for 'Antichrist' ... other than my absolute belief in the film -- the most important film of my entire career!
(Via Reuters)

See the trailer HERE

6. Ian Wright

About Ian Wright: Playfulness is important to me; I’m motivated by trying to push my work somewhere new. Somewhere else. Really, I’m interested in what could be. I sometimes reach that point by making mistakes and generally misusing technology and I often arrive at solutions by accident. I prefer to let the materials I use influence the outcome. I especially enjoy making portraits and I’m excited by the process of collaboration. I love conversation. I’m obsessed by music. I’m looking forward to what happens next.

Check out more work by Ian Wright HERE

7. Us Now

"An important and provocative film that people who believe in democracy need to watch"
- Don Tapscott (Wikinomics)

Us Now follows the fate of Ebbsfleet United, a football club owned and run by its fans; Zopa, a bank in which everyone is the manager; and Couch Surfing, a vast online network whose members share their homes with strangers.
'Us Now' is brilliant! And even better, true. "
Richard Sennett (LSE)
"I'm a convert. I'm on the team. Now what do we do next? "
Tom Watson -(Cabinet Minister)
"Seriously impressive. Both the subject matter, and the handling of it.
"
Lord David Puttnam The founding principles of these projects -- transparency, self selection, open participation -- are coming closer and closer to the mainstream of our social and political lives. Us Now describes this transition and confronts politicians George Osborne and Ed Milliband with the possibilities for participative government as described by Don Tapscott and Clay Shirky amongst others.
Directed by Ivo Gormley, Produced by Hugh Hartford, Edited by Mark Atkins (Kurt & Courtney, Biggie & Tupac, Complete History of My Sexual Failure)

Watch it HERE

8. Borja Bonaque

Urban retro futuristic landscapes paintings by Borja Bonaque.
Check out more of Borja Bonaque portfolio HERE

9. Coca Cola Gremlins

Some times i wonder how mother get's away with the stuff they do, even if this spot clearly shows product interaction, indulgence and a unique selling point.

Client: Coca-Cola
Agency: Mother, London
Production Company: Blink
Director: Dougal Wilson

Check out the TV spot HERE

10. Human Interface

Multitouch Barcelona has created an ultra innovative interactive work titled Hi, a real human interface as part of their presentation at Off 2009.
Weird and lovely.

Check out the video HERE