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Monday, 30th |
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Retail.
Livestock
With
this review, we officially declare the month of August the 'Vancouver
month'. First was Visuall, then came Richard Kidd, and today we have Livestock.
After hosting the Devilock art show, the folks of Livestock hardly had
time to
loose to
ship
the
artworks over to Tokyo (the show will be on display at the BAPE gallery)
and get their store empty... so they could fill it right up again.
Livestock, you must know, is not a gallery in the first place. It is a store
for premium footwear and merchandise closely affiliated with this kind of dress-code
- T-shirts, Sweatshirts, etc. With your spying glasses you might be able to recognize
a few of the distinct logos/designs on the garments in our pictures.
On the opening night 500+ people showed up... had a good time and cleared out
the spot? Possible, but we're sure that with the steady flow of new sneakers
and the current development towards sneaker-casual-hybrid styles, this store
will be well stocked, we're sure.
This bit wraps it up for our look at Vancouver this month. You take a look at
our pictures of Livestock (by Chris Allen) now and book a flight right after.
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Tuesday, 24th |
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Gaming.
Pax Athletica
Today's
review is about something immaterial - completely digital. It takes us
to a sphere that is a bit off from our regular course but fascinating nonetheless
- mobile gaming. For people who grew up with Nintendo's Game & Watch
or a C-64 and never managed the transition into the high-res world of consoles,
stations, and boxes this, genre could offer a safe haven. Due to lower
processing power and limited graphic capabilities these games seem more
suitable for oldschool players (who, by the way, don't see anything amusing
in being beat by 6 year olds...).
Pax Athletica will remind you of 1980s classics such as Decathlon or Summer Games,
however, the story behind it is far more complicated and definitely more intellectual?!
You will take up the role of one of eight figures from Olympic history to relive/revive
some of the games' most important athletic moments. It's not all about pushing
those (tiny) buttons now... it's also about getting to know the past...
Check out the official website which will set you in the mood for the game with
it's pixelated characters and find out how to download it onto your mobile device.
Oh, and there are some material goods to pick up, too.
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Monday, 23rd |
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Retail.
Richard Kidd - Vancouver
The
name 'Richard Kidd' was mentioned on a number of occasions during
the past few weeks. It's about time to take a closer look at this outstanding
retail
spot in
Vancouver/Canada. The store, which opened last April, is located in the
city's oldest neighbourhood - Gastown - which has been undergoing a substantial
renovation phase.
Examinig the pictures, one can tell that the store actually occupies an empty
space between two historic brick buildings. With the help of glass, steel, and
concrete this former parking lot was transformed into a store which can easily
compete with (and beat?) retail spaces in Tokyo, Los Angeles, or New York - where
a painting or projection is the closest you can get to having a mountain view...
Richard Kidd's 6,000 square feet, spread over two floors, showcase a selection
of high quality clothing by labels such as APC, Comme des Garçons, Number
(N)ine, or Wings & Horns, shoes by Tricker's and accessories like vintage
Rolex watches and custom-made jewellery by White Trash Charms. Not one label
that you like? Ok, in one of the earlier photographs that we have seen, one could
also spot box-logo gear...
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Monday, 16th |
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Art/Sculpture.
Drastic Plastic Trains
Graffiti
in the sense of spraycan art has long surpassed the state where people
had thought of it as a short-lived fad. This art movement has been
going on for over 30 years now and is growing still. While before
it was a street/underground
activity, Graffiti has established itself as an artform to be presented
in art galleries and glossy art books.
A great part of the early NYC Graffiti culture died with the introduction of
the stainless steel subway cars that replaced the old cars that were discolored
and rotten - a result also of the harsh chemicals used during mayor Ed Koch's
anti-Graffiti campaign "The Buff". All of the 1980s masterpieces were
destroyed during that period and painting trains never recovered from this backlash.
As a hommage to these earlier days of Graffiti, Drastic Plastic from Brooklyn
have worked hard to re-create the original NYC subway cars - in miniature, for
oldschool and newschool writers to bomb on. The 21' trains come in halves so
you can hang them up on your wall or to snap two together to make one complete
train. Watch out for more details from Drastic Plastic in October and buy the
SEEN train at Toy Tokyo now.
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Tuesday, 10th |
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Monthly.
Relax #91
This
new issue of Relax comes in (almost all) black and white, with the greatest
part of the content being printed on the yellow paper that you'll
usually find in the back. The purpose of this is unclear - seems like
an extended version of the fab! section.
The opening spreads show (color)photographs of swimming pools in Californian
residential areas by Taro Hirano. It is an introduction to the following feature
on pool skating. Keeping with the California theme, Relax then takes a closer
look at the Beach Boys and their Pet Sounds album. You could have aniticpated
this story from looking at James Jarivs' cover illustration which is a depiction/variation
of the album cover photograph. If you had been looking for the Japanese translation
of "Sloop John B." - there you have it...
T.U.R.D. (Tokyo Ugly Rich Designers) is the subject for travelogue 59. You'll
get to see images from San Francisco and Los Angeles and read comments by the
people in charge of projects like w)taps, SOPH., Tenderloin, Mister Hollywood
or Ships. If you can...
#91 - a bit more difficult than your average Relax but still worth the while.
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Thursday, 5th |
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Expo.
Richard Kidd, Devilock, Livestock - Visuall
While
in some of the proclaimed style capitals of the world the 'makers and shakers'
seem to have confined to chatting about themselves and what's cool and
what's not, people in other cities are actually doing things to build a
reputation for excellent retailing and exhibitions. Berlin is definitely
on the upwards move, as well as some of the Asian metropolisses as Singapore
or Bangkok.
Vancouver is not really a fresh mark on our map, however, with the new retail
space by the people behind Twenty04 and Made Magazine - Richard Kidd this mark
has just gained importance. For their current show "Visuall", R.K.
teamed up with Devilock and the host of this show, Livestock, to accumulate pieces
by a list of artists that can hardly be matched/beaten... Skatething, Pushead,
Jakuan, SSUR, Kaws, Futura, to name only a few.
What you get to see is not some material out of the artists' archives but pieces
that were produced for and are related to Devilock. Since we all know that attending
a show without getting something is half the fun, Richard Kidd and Devilock had
T-shirts and the new toys by SSUR - specifically produced for this show - for
sale. We will have a very small number of these items available in the BGHD Shop
shortly. Contact us for more info.
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Tuesday,
3rd |
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Venture.
Vänskap
If
it had not been for Vänskap - actually this email from Helsinki this
morning - we would have stayed out in the sun for the rest of August. While
at first we suspected another of these hand-scribbled-twisted-art-school-message-t-shirt
projects, Vänskap didn't need long to convince us of the complete
opposite.
These guys rock! And without dwelling on superlatives here - they have some of
the most intelligent, humorous graphics on the(ir) market right now. You open
the site, you don't expect anything (except for the hand-scribbled...) and then
they hit you with a puppy. Ok. Fine. What else is there. Sure, sure, you hit "Products".
"Morrisey wears a wig" - soso-funny. But that dog in the back? We're
getting there. A puppy in the shower. Yes, better. A sleeping cat in the back.
Need more. A guinea pig? And then that fake leather bear face? Go on... Teenage
caveman? Hello? Bunnies? Shoplifters United? What are these kids on. Can we order
that someplace online? What put us to the ground immediately was the "Toys" section.
With that "Talk to the hand - Tool for arguing" you could entertain
millions for hours. Vänskap - thanks for your site, your artwork, your products.
Now feed those pets!
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