Artist: Gabriel Graham

As Ta2 Gallery continues to expand, we now have a selection of works from Toronto based artist Gabriel Graham. Here's a selection of the selection that you'll find on our walls.

Music Video: Vulture Realty "2011"

Vulture Realty: "2011" from steamclam on Vimeo.

New video from my fav's, Vulture Realty. I think there must be some sort of epileptic warning that is supposed to be attached.

Fresh Stuff From Jim Darling in Beacon, NY

"The area that I've been spending time in has multiple abandon buildings, which are amazing. Unfortunately it also has a ton of trash scattered between the buildings. I decided to clean up the area by dragging all the junk into one location and making something out of it. With a little help I pulled four beds, six tires, and a large amount of scrap into one consolidated area... The trash that was scattered everywhere, was transformed into one giant character who found a great place to relax."

via Wooster Collective

Too Delicious to Not Post

YUM!

Agency: JWT Sydney
Animation: Collider

Music Video: Dan Black "Symphonies"

Can you name all the films referenced?

Artist: Kristina Collantes

Kristina Collantes.

List: 100 Most Creative People In Business

HP has put together a list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business. Featuring artists Damien Hirst and KAWS in their list of people from varying industries.

I was really happy to see Music Supervisor Alex Patsavas make the list at number 29. She's been picking music for show's like Grey's Anatomy, The OC and movies like Twilight. Now she's been given her own record label to keep doin' what she do. She's brought the music supervision game to a 'celebrity' level. I was at a conference where she was on a panel a couple years ago, and they had to get security to manage the crowds wanting to hand her their music after she was done speaking. Seriously.

photo via High Snobiety

Play: John/Yoko Bed Piece

It's worth seeing just because of the poster. Look at them trying not to laugh!
John/Yoko Bed Piece is on now at The Theatre Centre in Toronto.
For more details, click here.

Artist: ION

ION (real name: Are Mokkelbost) is the mastermind behind these surreal collages. And yes, they ARE collages. NO! not photoshopped! Just a lot of time with scissors and glue. This kind of handy work is what is missing in our digital age. True talent. These pieces took over three years to produce.







You can check out more of IONS pieces here.
(photos via You Might Like This)

Music Video: Royksopp ft Robyn - The Girl & The Robot

Watch: Sorry I'm Late

In about 50 seconds, this image of a man lying on the floor with a newspaper in his face will make much more sense to you. Written and directed by Tomas Mankovsky, Sorry I'm Late is a live action stop motion short filmed from an aerial perspective and acted out horizontally on the floor. It's all about a man's journey to get back home. Man, if only it were that easy! Now's there's no excuse to get home late!


To view the film, click on the image below:



Definitely worth checking out the Making Of page here.

Power to the Planet

Here's a video from Element Skateboards that features Juliana Neufeld. Juliana currently is also showing some art in the Ta2 offices. Why haven't you come by and seen it yet???


Element was created with an unwavering dedication to making a positive difference in the world. We continue this quest by supporting great causes, creating school programs and camps, and nurturing our sustainable and organic product lines.

Recently, over 60 Element family members joined together to tell their stories, inspire others, and raise social and environmental awareness.

'Power to the Planet' is about taking a stand, having a voice, and making change.

Yard Sale for the Cure

This is Rachael Smith. In 2004, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Following a gruelling 9 month battle, Rachael saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and decided to give something back to the medical community that had seen her through her darkest hours. Throughout her entire journey back to health, one thing [apart from love and great medical care] had remained constant for Rachael and her family - the pile of junk in their basement.

This is when lightning struck. Cue Rachael's desire to help others in her position, cue a cause that always needs fighting for, cue the pile of junk in her basement. Yard Sale for the Cure was created as a means to raise funds for Breast Cancer research.

Saturday, May 30th 2009 at 8 AM in Toronto is when Yard Sale for the Cure is to kick off for this year. There's still time to become a host if you'd like to sell it all from your front porch. Or you can browse other Yard Sale for the Cures by checking out the location guide.

For further details on becoming a host for 2009, click here.
Wanting to shop? Check locations here.
Wish to donate some money? Click here.

For the full Yard Sale for the Cure story, click here.



Images from YardSaleForTheCure.com

Music Video: Suckers "Easy Chairs"

Suckers video for their song "Easy Chairs" takes us to another planet of flying lounge chairs, psychedelic blankets, band members as super bugs who apparently all need to be expoded at the end. There's lots of great things to watch here.

Gig: TV on the Radio

You know summer time is just around the corner when TV on the Radio comes back into town, wassup!! They'll be playing at the Sound Academy in Toronto on June 2nd, 2009. What this means to you = you can still buy tickets to the show! Woot!

Check their Myspace here for further listings of North American / Global gigs.
Not familiar with TVOTR? They rock. True Story. Here's an oldie but a goodie from their 2006 album "Return to Cookie Mountain":



We really dread to think what happened to Sherry & Mark after that delightful scarf dance.

Artist: Bill Carmen

Bill Carmen's dark but slightly playful illustrations:





http://billcarman.blogspot.com/

Helvetica!

On a recent visit to London's Design Museum [which if you're ever planning on visiting, don't. Save your £8.50 and go to the gift shop instead], a friend of mine and I agreed that the only thing remotely exciting about the museum were the stark white walls with occasional directions painted in gigantic, Helvetican text. "WOMEN'S" was definitely a fave, as was "EXIT".

Even though that was the most exciting part about the museum, I couldn't help but feel that that was also the most dated. Negative space has been huge in graphic design across the last 10 years; minimalist styles always seem to go hand in hand with some sort of Helvetica Bold / Helvetica Neue / Helvetica Neue Black Condensed / Neue Bold Condensed combo. Helvetica essentially is the Starbucks of the font families. Uber trendy, functional and would probably own a home in the Beaches if it could afford one, you can order your Venti Helvetica Neue Ultra Light, and bold it if you're feeling a little bit on the gluttonous side. But one has to ask, with over fifty years of use, when will Helvetica be done with being the trendy trend?

So far there are no signs of the font slowing down [the signs written in Helvetica themselves], so we might as well give in to the celebration. Our own TA2 logo is in Helvetica [shames, shames], I've also named my first born after the font*, and the truth is is that there just ain't a font out there as purty.

* I'm lying a terrible lie, but Helvetica Fletcher does have a certain ring to it.



So here goes the celebration of Helvetica! Because without it, the Design Museum would just have white walls [which wouldn't be a bad thing, considering the rest of their exhibits]:



Lars Muller's 2005 book on the typeface showcases over 400 uses of the font. For more info, click here.



Gary Hustwit's feature length documentary coincided with the 50th anniversary of the font in 2007. Learn more here.


Photo of the Design Museum from The Curated Object.

Cell phone accessories

Amos toys will shortly becoming out with a few new lines of cellphone accessories. Don't you want to be the coolest tween on the block?? When they are released you'll find them at the Amos Shop.



Photos via Amos Toy Blog

Artist: Judith Supine

Images via Wooster Collective

Here's also a short video of Judith Supine's process. (and creepy magazine face)

POP UP

French graphic designer Marion Bataille has created an amazing pop-up book simply using the letters of the alphabet. Watch the video to witness why it's more amazing than it sounds. The book is titled ABC3D and is published by Roaring Brook.

We want SPOTIFY!

The next big thing to be making it across the music industry is Spotify, a search engine-esque jukebox of practically every song ever written. All you need to do is download & install and you can be listening to any song your wee musical heart desires FOR FREE. Move over, iTunes! You can even make playlists for friends and coworkers. The only problematic thing to Spotify is that you can't download the music files themselves, so they make a permanent home only within your Spotify account. No MP3 or iPod transfers here. As well, in order for that "free" bit to happen, a good ole advert pops up every five songs or so. If this annoys you, you can purchase an ad-free Spotify account for a monthly fee.

Sounds too good to be true!! Unfortunately for us CANADIANS, Spotify is not yet available in our country due to licensing restrictions. However, send them your email address here and hopefully due to maximum Canadianus volume we can get on that sh*t.

For the rest of you non-Canadians, enjoy Spotify! Know that we're deeply jealous of your free playlists and hate you.

No need to break and enter

Stat Key Co. is producing these uncut keys if you're bored with the run-of-the-mill keys on your key chain. Time to start making a statement with your keys, don't you think??


I'm not sure exactly what statement you are making with the grenade option. But I'm sure people will respect you.

Re-imagining public spaces

It doesn't take too much thought or effort to turn a public space from forgettable to memorable. One such example is the open underground tunnels of Tel Aviv. Artists altered the lighting to make the spaces much more interesting.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


For this example, artists Bar&Shay said their street art muse was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

(Images via Wooster Collective)

Music: Cassettes Won't Listen

Brooklyn based Jason Drake is the man behind Cassettes Won't Listen. Indie pop electronic. Here's his video for "Freeze and Explode"

Music Video: Phoenix '1901'

Dazed Digital commissioned music video directors Bogstandard to shoot the video for Phoenix's '1901'. You can check out the video and an interview with the band exclusively on the Dazed Digital website.

Street Art

Some new Jeff Soto pieces recently put up in the streets of London.



Via Wooster Collective

Want: Faux Cardboard Bedding

Ever dreamed of being homeless and sleeping under the stars under a cardboard box? Well, now that pipe dream can become a reality. Except you won't necessarily NEED to be homeless! Cut out the middle man with these faux cardboard bed sheets by Le Clochard.




Dutch by Design is selling them internationally with 30% of the profits going to a young homeless persons shelter called Centrepoint in the UK.

Artist: Jirat Patradoon

Born in Thailand but raised in Sydney, Australia, Jirat Patradoon is doing fantastic screen prints in comic book/sci fi style.

Art: Bakers Dozen

Bakers Dozen is an online shop where you can by limited edition art. Thirteen artists were asked to create pieces in a limited edition of 13. Everything is decently priced, here are a few things I had my eye on:




http://bakersdozen.bigcartel.com/