Behold, a tiny collection of guitars turned into masterpieces of weirdness by a collection of artists of such odd disparity. One guitar basically has nothing to do with the next other than the base and in a couple cases, the region from whens the artist cometh. The photos we’ve got below were taken at the place where this show resides: Grumpy’s Downtown Minneapolis. This show was originally conceived as part of the Amphetamine Reptile Records 25th anniversary bash, and runs until September 30th, 2010. Go look! Have some tater tots and really tasty chicken strips and a brew!

La-La Land Gallery (owned and operated by artist/Minnesota native Kii Arens) and Ox-Op (that gallery that hasn’t been open for EVER behind Grumpy’s downtown Minneapolis) present customized Waterstone Guitars by this fantastic list of master artists and designers: Aesthetic Apparatus, Arbito, Brynn Arens, Kii Arens, Anthony Ausgang, Gary Baseman, Keith Brogdon, Andrew Brandou, CLUTTER Magazine, DALEK, Steve Ellis, Ed Fotheringham Ray Frenden, HAZE-XXL, Myles Karr, KOZIK, Jessie LeDoux, Little, Friends of Printmaking, Rob McBroom, Michael Motorcycle, Niagara, Juliette Oken, Martin Ontiveros, Plasticgod, Chris Reccardi, Chris Ryniak, Snaggs, Savanna Snow, Gary Taxali and Amanda Visell. Most of these guitars are for sale here: [OX-OP]

Grumpy’s Downtown
1111 Washington Avenue South
Minneapolis MN 55415

Below you’ll notice two sets of photos. The detail pics of the guitars in perfect light are done by OX-OP, the rest, photographed in the bar, are by WFDJ. Use liberally.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies 3D category.

By definition, a sketch is a drawing not meant to be finished. But lo! Look at whose moleskin is filled with sketches taken way beyond the average sketchy lightness a sketch would be sketched. This is the newest set of pages from the moleskin of illustrator Andres Guzman. Look at all the color and shading and blacks and whites and everything going on oh my god look at it all! Super amazing on every single page.

Paint and watercolor and ink and pencil, all the illustration you can chomp on. To see more works by Guzman take a peek on over to his Guzman blogspot.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies hand writing category.

Dear world, it is my pleasure to announce the continued modern-day miracle working of Aesthetic Apparatus. Today’s magic: the 2010 label for Minneapolis’ own Surly Brewing Company’s Russian Imperial Stout: DARKNESS. This tasty opportunity was offered in past years to the likes of Adam Turman in 2007, Nic Skrade (misspelled on the label?) in 2008, and Dave Witt in 2009. Each of these artists and designers was (and is) based in the Twin Cities, and to continue that tradition in a highly proper manner, Aesthetic Apparatus has been asked next. Beer plus AA. How else could the world of beer and the beer filled world move on into the future? There is no other way available.

If you’re blind, you might not notice that above, you can see the label for the beer we’re talking about here. If you click the thumbnail in the gallery below, you can see it bigger. If you buy the beer on “Darkness Day” Saturday, October 23rd, you’ll see it even bigger-er.

Read the label in text here, courtesy of, who else, Beer News:

“The inception of Darkness was rather humble. In 2006, Todd Haug, Surly Head Brewer, told me he was going to brew twelve barrels of this Russian Imperial Stout. I wondered how we would ever sell 24 kegs of this giant brew to Twin Cities’ bars and restaurants. Given my faith in Todd, I did not stop him. Thank God. We soon heard of people pouring their beers into 12-ounce bottles, capping them and taking them home. Well, if bottles were what Surly Nation wanted, then bottles were what they would get! That year, two whole kegs -60 growlers- were sold.

In 2007, we ramped up production to 30 barrels, and Minneapolis-based artist, Adam Turman, designed the first label for a 750ml bottle. December 15th was the earliest we could label, fill and dip all 5,000 bottles: so we celebrated with bands, beer and donuts. We sold out quickly to the brave souls who weathered the cold to stand in line, and Darkness Day was born. In 2008, tattoo artist, Nik Skrade, designed the label and the event exploded ten-fold to 5,000 bottles. In 2009, local artist, Dave Witt was commissioned for the Darkness artwork, and the City of Brooklyn Center joined the party.

This year, Aesthetic Apparatus has designed the label and is beginning the new tradition of a yearlong series of original artwork for our beer. So, that’s how this humble little/big beer became the unexpected juggernaut you now hold in your hands. Let’s raise a glass to all the artists and beer geeks that have made it possible!”

Limited edition for sure. And ALSO in the gallery you’ll see past years’ beers. Credit for these photos go to: Friday Night Beer, The Perfectly Happy Man, and PeterHDK. See if you can match the beer to the artist. It’ll be fun for everyone.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies black category.

Hey, who loves show previews? I do! Here’s one! Our pals over at Joshua Liner gallery have a show coming up that features the fabulous Greg “CRAOLA” Simkins. He’s a sometimes graffiti artist, all the time artist, detail intensive magician, and all around cool fellow. What we’ve got here is a full preview of this show that goes by the name “Inside the Outside”: paintings, drawings, magnificent works from 48 inches square paintings to tiny 10 inch high fabuloso graphite pieces.

Check out more shows we’ve preview’d in collaboration with [Joshua Liner]

This show “Inside the Outside” takes place June 5 to July 1, 2010. You can check it out for yourself at the opening on June 5th from 6-9pm.

Gallery Hours
Tuesday — Saturday
11 — 6PM

Address
548 West 28th Street
3rd Floor
New York, NY 10001

Phone (212) 244-7415
Fax (212) 244-7416
Email info@joshualinergallery.com

AND There’s a limited edition print being released just for the show:

The Welcoming Party [PRINT]
Giclee print on paper
2010
24 x 18 in.
Edition of 50
$150

It’s a small version of the painting that’s also available for ownership at a much more gigantic price. Of course, the much larger price has a lot to do with that the original painting is both larger and much more original.

Welcoming Party
Acrylic on canvas
2010
36 x 30 in.
$14,000

NOW, feel free to take a peek through the whole gallery here, and be sure to stop by the show or contact the gallery if you’re interested in purchasing any of the pieces.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies painting category.

For this occasion I’ve got to offer up this modified/chopped version of words from poet W. H. Auden: “Silence the pianos and with muffled drum. Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead. Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead. The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood. For nothing now can ever come to any good.” Truly it is an epic moment for the artist who brought us decades of undeniably epic fantasy art, Frank Frazetta, is dead.

This man was a fantasy artist, completely and utterly. He painted and drew, illustrations that cannot be touched now or then or anytime. He worked on cover art for novels, comic books inside and out, movie posters, album covers, and every sort of painting small and large for the sale to the rich.

This past November, a cover art painting he did for Conan the Conquerer sold to an unnamed collector for $1million bucks. This was such big news that WIRED had a flip-out session about it. He did the utterly wild covers of Molly Hatchet albums, covers and insides of Vampirella, and yes, yes! the movie poster for Beastmaster. Plus a whole big batch, nest, mountain of other works.

I only mention the Beastmaster poster because it’s mentioned in the forever-classic graffiti film Style Wars. Frank Frazetta was an influence to shitloads of people, the readers of the fantasy novels he covered to the graffiti artists in this film. Dig it:

Now I’m not going to say much more about the man here, I’ll let his images do the rocking, but just so you know, he died on May 10 in Fort Myers, Fla, and he lived to be 82 years old. Also here I’d like to thank my main homie johnstonamerica for alerting me and the rest of thegiant crew to Frazetta’s passing.

Now devour his greatness!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies ancient category.

Since you’re here, I’m going to go ahead and assume you’ve seen the movie Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. In it is one of the most fantastic no-words-speaking little men in the whole world. He is a character named “Feral Boy” in the credits, noone says his name the whole movie. In the movie he is known for throwing a bad-ass boomerang that cuts off the fingers of one of the bad guys and chomping its way into the brain of another. He’s a deadly little fellow. He’s also presented with a fun little music box by Mel Gibson! But this is all beside the point. The pictures you see above and below are by an artist who happens to share the name “Feral Boy” with that character, and his paintings here are unbelievable.

Above and below you will see a collection of 12 works by Feral Boy.

Feral boy employs several methods in making his works, including acrylic, collage (including some rather precise cuts of paper and tape), gouache, watercolor, and probably like a half dozen more. But that covers these. These right here are the newest of the newer pictures, let’s hope for more. Lucky you, you can follow Feral Boy on his own rhythemically updated news feed at http://souvlaki.jp-ar.org/, where you can also see his beautiful works for the covers of the comic Fables. Your eyeballs will melt with pleasure.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies grotesque category.

Let’s talk. I need you to know who Dan O’Bannon is. He’s one of the largest reasons the first Alien (1979) movie was written, produced, exists. He was one of the two writers on that film, and helped on it through production. Another thing about him that’s rather important I feel is that he was a good friend to H.R. Giger. The artist wild beast that is H.R. Giger is the one who illustrated the monster. Recently, I basically just found out, Dan O’Bannon passed on to death. This is a tribute to that man using his friend H.R. Giger’s artworks, the stranger wildnesses of the film, and the rarities that come from the darkness that is the evil corners of these internets. Be on your guard.

It is a strange legacy to have hit the world strongest with a film about terror. Instead of listing the positive, loving films O’Bannon’d worked on, let’s instead focus on this. The film Alien, basically the place where Dan O’Bannon shined brightest. He worked on a crapload of other things before and after, but this is the thing right now. Right now, nothing else is such a bright star. And in regards to what we, here, at World Famous Design Junkies push into space, there’s a lot of lovely, inspiring, and sometimes fantastically campy imagery, moving images, and sounds in there.

It’s a moment in history that inspired lots and lots of other positive things, wild things, and really really WEIRD things. And here they all are. All of them. Every single one.

DAN O’BANNON! Thank you for such a lovely thing.

ALIEN POST GO!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies outer space category.

Hello all you fun-loving satanists – keep your crappy rat-made tats. The following is a collection of images of upside-down crosses. This is not a collection of evil for satan’s sake. It is a collection of the tendency for images of inverted crosses to be wild and weird. It takes a special situation for a person to decide to flip a cross on its head because of the controversial reaction it might make. However, as you’ll be quick to see, many of these images are personal – images of flipped crosses written on hands, on desks in schools, and more, just for some sort of self-fulfilling need. But then again, they did photograph them.

Indulge in this weirdness, and stray not from the path of righteousness.

The following collection is made up of contributions from this list of generous donors: Rev. Xanatos Satanicos Bombasticos, LadyLadyLadyy, The Rev. Steve, LaruaLynn Patrick, John Hatfield, Criminal Intent, Toothpaw (illustration on text page), Swampy, Scott Prince, Klis, Angel D, Eggybird, Shbnggrth, Cemtry, Chwy, AntiMax, Hotspot O, PizDrunx, Yissah, BuChoy, Leo Curran, Jansenh, IEat Glamour, and Kahlerisms.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies bad taste category.

Now I’ve titled this post “redux” because it’s the second post we’ve got on this particular subject but it’s the first where it’s not just a super-super-preview. This is the real deal, the show, the real show deal. It’s Kris Kuksi, it’s lots of death, not much cake, and sculpture. Sculpture that’s so grotesque you’ll have to get your Dictionary of Death out and cross out the definition for grotesque and write what you saw at “Beast Anthology” and call it good. The entire preview for the show is inside this post.

Kris Kuksi
Beast Anthology
November 21 to December 19, 2009
Joshua Liner Gallery

Gallery Hours
Tuesday — Saturday
11 — 6PM

Address
548 West 28th Street
3rd Floor
New York, NY 10001
(212) 244-7415
(212) 244-7416 Fax
info@joshualinergallery.com

Here’s all the names and such below. Below each title is a little description that I added so you know what’s what and all that. Then below that is the gallery of the fabulousness and the blackness and the evil.

The Plague Parade: Opus 2
(The one with the giant cat creature.)
Mixed media assemblage
2009
42 x 62 x 16 in.

The Temptation of St. Anthony
(The one with the saint standing up in it)
Mixed media assemblage
2009
39 x 38 x 12 in.

Sanctuary of the Bewildered
(The one that’s triangular with a skull with a hat on in the middle.)
Mixed media assemblage
2009
38 x 36 x 16 in.

Pan Discomforting Psyche
(The one that appears to have a seductive Christlike character in it.)
Mixed media assemblage
2009
25 x 27.5 x 10.5 in.

The Three Disgraces
(The one with three ladies in it dancing and such.)
Mixed media assemblage
2009
29 x 23.5 x 8 in.

Auto-Cephalic Supplicating Vehicle
(The head-tank with the Eiffel Tower on the back.)
Mixed media assemblage
2009
26 x 38 x 14 in.

Gertrude Von Howitzerhen
(The one with the big chicken.)
Mixed media assemblage
2009
29 x 21 x 8 in.

The Adventures of the Cycloptic Emperor of France
(The circular one with the man with the hat.)
Mixed media assemblage
2009
21 x 17 x 6 in.

Fiver’s Nightmare
(The one that’s an egg with a rabbit in it.)
Mixed media assemblage
2009
8 x 5 x 2.5 in.

Babe Looses Her Innocence
(The one that’s an egg with a piggy in it.)
Mixed media assemblage
2009
8.75 x 5 x 2.5 in.

Ok so here we are right on top of the evil and the black and the satan. Maybe satan isn’t even here. Maybe it’s eviler. I smell the church. I smell it. Look at these mixed media assemblages and cry because they’re almost all sold already. To important people.

This post is a terrifying addition to the World Famous Design Junkies grotesque category.

I don’t mean to get vile on you here, but these zombie drawings were done by none other than your new best friend Jeff Proctor. Zombies are a subject that I think every non-phobia art student and design student should be required to explore. Why? Because god damnit you need to know what to do if they attack! Zombies are amongst the most terrifying and unstoppable forces human beings have ever thought up! Why? Because they are a virus. Why should art students explore them? Because they’re really really awesome.

I just watched a documentary on zombies and they said that not only is modern zombie fanaticism not going away, it’s growing at an alarming rate. Jeff Proctor knows this. Jeff Proctor knows that not only can you draw zombies standing up and eating brains, you can put bird cages in them, too!

Proctor has had works including a couple of the ones you see in this post on display in a gallery setting (zombie only) and will have more in the future. Get in on the ground floor! Then make sure there’s only one stairway, climb that stairway, and bar the door. Make one small hole for your shotgun / grenades to fit through. And you should be good.

Just wait through the winter and you’re golden.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies grotesque category.

We’ve just received a talented tip about a painter designer from none other than the Oakland side of California. In these paintings is a designer tip on what the title says: exploding arteries, ew, fingers and teeth, hands, buildings, weirdness. Let Daryll Peirce help you find your way all around the block with spindly bits of disgusting hair!

Each painting you see here is made with basically the same materials, and some of them go right round the canvas! Acrylic and stain on birch wood and poplar. Below you’ll find bits of several pieces, then a little detail on an upcoming show that you’ll be able to see some Peirce in first hand!

“Perspective Metamorphosis 1″
16″ x 16″
Acrylic and stain on birch and poplar

“Perspective Metamorphosis 2″
16″ x 16″
Acrylic and stain on birch and poplar

“Self Trepanation”
16″ x 20″
Acrylic, stain, leaves and vines on birch and poplar

“The Harvester”
16″ x 20″
Acrylic and stain on birch and poplar

“Treadmill”
16″ x 20″
Acrylic and stain on birch and poplar

“Perspective Metamorphosis 1″, “Treadmill” and “The Harvester” will be available at the upcoming show “Golden Age” in LA, also including such lovelies as Cat Cult, Buff Monster, and Phil Lumbang!

This post is right out the World Famous Design Junkies grotesque category!

These photos are technically not animal parts inside-out, but animals with their insides… out. They’re all taken by one Nazif Topçuoğlu who is one splendid and spectacular photographer if I do say so myself. These photos fit perfectly into his artist statement, in which he searches for images that remind the viewer of an unclear past. In my mind, I’m hoping he’s a slaughterhouse attendant as a child.

Head cheese.

STATEMENT

On no days of our childhood did we live so fully perhaps as those we thought we had left behind without living them, those that we spent with a favourite book.

M. Proust, On Reading

The underlying thread in my work is a constant preoccupation with time, memory and loss. I worry about the transience of people and things in general, and try to reconstruct unclear and imperfect images of an idealized past. Such an attempt inevitably requires the ability to recapture past, hence my constant art-historical references to classic paintings and photographs as well as to authors such as Proust and Thomas Mann. Hence I have no problems with my images becoming visually seductive in the process.

Another and more specific aspect of the recent Readers, is its pre-occupation with the contradicting positions of women in Turkey. When employing the representations of youth as imagery, one has to deal with the issues of gender roles and male gaze. In these photographs, unlike the more common examples, a respectful stance towards the female has been taken. The subjectification of the female youth as a gender-free ideal, inevitably involves her intelligence, beauty, energy, and struggle as the major concerns of this work

I do photography because… I need to produce the images which are provocative but not exploitative that I would enjoy looking at.

There are two sets here: COLOUR OFFAL and BLACK AND WHITE OFFAL – I’m sure with your super eyeball brains and such, you’ll be able to tell the difference between the two. Color is color, and so on.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies grotesque category.

A most terrifying of categories.

Hope you’re not eating anything right about now.

Welcome to this year’s World Famous Design Junkies Halloween Contest! So spooky! This years prize is the very same watch we posted about a few days ago: Vannen Artist Watches Limited Edition Halloween Exclusive watch by “Dirty” Donny Gillies. It rings in at a fabulous $85 worth of beautiful time-keeping plastic, metal, and ink, and it could all be yours!

CONTEST COMPLETE Winner declared below!

Congratulations to Jessica Trevizo from Los Angeles California! Apparently she is a broke art student, which just fabulous if you ask me.

UPDATE: She’s received her watch and t-shirt and is just-a-jumpin for joy! Thank you everyone who participated!

All you gotta do is tweet!

This year’s Halloween contest is so easy to enter, it will rip your flesh apart. Once you know how simple and enjoyable this contest is, you’ll surely stab your eyeballs out and serve them as an entree at your costume party. But leave your wrists intact! You’ll need them (or at least one) to wear your brand spanking new Vannen watch!

For more info on the watch you’ll be winning, head on over to the [Snot Nosed Arm Watches] post. You get one of those: blind-packaged so you might get the black one, or you might get the Toxic one. Who knows!? Both are fantastically wild. BONUS: Also included in the prize package is a brand spankin new Vannen Artist Watches t-shirt, hot off the presses.

HOW TO ENTER THE CONTEST:

1. Follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/design_junkies/.

2. Find you very favorite World Famous Design Junkies post and tweet it using this format: [#DJUNKHALLOWEENCONTEST @design_junkies @vannenwatches my favorite post is:] adding the address of your favorite post at the end, using tinyurl if needed.

3. Report back on Wednesday night to see if you’ve won!

RULES: A. You’ve got to have friends on twitter. No setting up a new account just to enter the contest with. If you have no twitter account, make one and make friends QUICK so as to trick us. It will work, trust me.

B. You may enter as many times as you like with different posts. I’m sure you’ve got just a whole fistfull of favorite posts, and each tweet enters you into the contest an additional time, increasing your odds.

C. The winner will be picked at random.

D. Ask any questions in the comment section below!

E. Have fun!

Ow gross that’s some snot there, isn’t it? Vannen Artist Watches is basically a super fabulously new watch making group. They’re tiny and basically totally all about making watches. And this grotesque bit of arm filth, this arm watch for your arm, it’s the super special edition limited edition Halloween watch designed by painter, poster artist, fine artist, and gearhead “Dirty” Donny Gillies. Uh and what’s that, there’s a special edition?

And what’s that, it’s TOXIC?

It’s so very Toxic. Also way way below in the gallery you’ll be glad to view a tiny collection of other works by Dirty Donny. Its such dirty stuff. Posters.

Specs
Wrist: Medium Size – 7.75 Inches Max.
Movement: 3 Hand Japanese Quartz.
Dial: 28mm, Screen Printed, Multicolor.
Case: 34mm, Plastic, Glossy Black
Crystal: Plastic w/ Protective Film.
Buckle: Plastic, Glossy Black.
Loop: Plastic, Glossy Black.
Straps: 16mm Wide, Sandwhich Strap.

Oh my goodness look at all those statistics.

There’s 150 of these bad boys. Then, like all good limited editions, there’s 50 of the toxic flavoring. This is only the latest in a line of strange collaborations between Vannen Artist Watches and oddball lowbrow artists including Damon Soule, Chris Ryniak, Brian Morris, and the squishy one, Buff Monster. Slap one on. Slap THREE on.

Dear Swedish artist who has made the collection of dead fly artworks you’ll see in this post right here. I would love to hear from you. I would like to give you credit for the greatest dead fly artworks that I have ever seen. I would like to compliment your use of bee and moth carcasses also. Let me know who you are! And let the internet have more of your utterly wondrous grotesque brilliance. Thank you!

These photos were found on several sites having just posted within the past month with no source or credit to the artist (so they ain’t gettin no link from me, either!) If you are, or if you know of, the artist, let use know! We’d love some more carcasses in our lives! Here at the office, we’re mostly into living nature, like flowers and kitties and bunnies and such, but the occasional dead rat has been known to pass past our doorstep.

This post is torn limb from limb from the dead body of the World Famous Design Junkies Grotesque category, screaming, and in utter agony. Without mercy.

Oh my scary goodness! Misfits have been making records since before… well not quite as long as KISS, but still, pretty long! And here’s a new one. As nearly always, we’re in on the artwork part of it, and I’m gonna go right ahead and say this is pretty swanky. Full of zazz. The cover is painted / designed by a mister Arthyr Suydam of “Marvel Zombies” fame. Do you recognize the setup? BONUS: the release date is Halloween 2009.

Oh my goodness there’s no more room in Hell! This record has the first new “original” material from the Misfits band in 10+ years. The cover is done in direct homage to George Romero’s zombie legacy of movies, with a 100% genuine “Fiend Skull” on the neck of the underwater zombie.

If you’ve really gotta buy this thing then you’re gonna be in such a love with either version: red clear vinyl for the limited-edition LP, clear orange for the tour-only edition. All of these are on vinyl. Vinyl only. Or you can download them from … just steal them. Let’s me honest with eachother. Then buy the vinyl anyway.

This post slithered out of the World Famous Design Junkies grotesque category.

Jason Freeny is a 3D artist. That’s weird. I am totally down with what he’s up to, though, definitely digging what is going on here. He’s a self-proclaimed Artist / Illustrator / Crazy Person, and it shows! This post details a bunch of his newest series of illustrations, that being the insides of those particular toys and toy-like objects we usually only concern ourselves with the outside of. Because why would there be anything in there? I’ll tell you why : because that would be awesome.

Jason Freeny’s company name is Moist Productions. See him if you need to get… some illustrations and such! Not so much if you need to get moist. You’re gonna need to see someone else about that.

Each of these pictures is “digital illustration” which means there’s basically no “original” that you can collect, but you can definitely own these lovely things in physical form ala the Moist Productions online store. As if I was going to link to an offline store, ay?

Look at all the insides!

This post is straight out the World Famous Design Junkies 3D category because we’re in the THIRD DIMENSION.

My goodness it’s been almost a year since we’ve covered any of the grotesque sculpture works of Kris Kuksi. It’s my pleasure to present to you an early peek of his newest creations for his sure-to-be-terrifying upcoming solo show “Beast Anthology” at Joshua Liner Gallery in New York. You’ll find in this post two pieces, each one of them on pre-sale, each one of them will be shown at the show too, but you’ve got the opportunity if you’ve got the scratch to scratch the itch early. So… Get your baseball bats with nails out!

It’s clubbin time!

Take a peek at these two amazing works of art, then if you’re so inclined and so lucky as to be in New York, New York during the November days that Kuksi’s solo show of works will be on display, head on over to the gallery:

Joshua Liner Gallery
548 W. 28th Street
3rd Floor
New York NY 10001
212.244.7415
joshualinergallery.com

And be sure to snap some pics!

“The Temptation of St. Anthony”
Mixed media assemblage
2009
39 x 38 x 12 in

“Gertrude Von Howitzerhen”
Mixed media assemblage
2009
29 x 21 inches

Kris Kuksi is a rare artist. A design sense in every sense of the words, a grand sense of reality, and a taste for craftsmanship that’s out of this world. These works are true masterpieces, strange as they may be, as they define not only a species destined for eternal war, but an alternate reality where some dread hell eclipses life.

What a world, what a world.

It’s on my BUCKET LIST OF ULTIMATE BRUTALITY to own some amalgamation by Kuksi. Helping me out on this automatically puts you in my will! This post above all belongs in the World Famous Design Junkies grotesque category.

Oh goodie shoes. Shoes on animals. Converse hired Anomaly to do this fabulously strange ad campaign for their new customizable shoe line (no more info on this but that’s not what matter) – what matters is the wicked wildness of these strange machinations. Together and apart, I bet I know what tools they used but my goodness, my goodness it does that line credit! Discover for yourself the alternate universe of Anomaly. NOTE: not to be mistaken for the new album by Ace Frehley. Also that album is awesome. Frehley’s Comet for life.

EDIT: there’ll be posters up on the streets of New York City starting the week this post is posted (today is September 15, 2009). Exciting!

The eyes! It’s all in the eyes! There’s also some animated interactive ads floating around the internets which you may have seen recently, they’re neat too. Frightening also, of course. Look at these, then look at your own animal pets. Discover the beast within.

This post is a part of the World Famous Design Junkies Unnatural Nature category. Because even though that lion mouse chipmunk bird thing is just the cutest little thing ever seen, it just makes me feel like perhaps maybe it isn’t a real thing.

Oh my goodness the artwork of grotesque artist Trevor Brown is quite the artwork indeed. His collection features gorgeous paintings of the children’s toys, Japanese lolita culture, and lots of skulls and such! What you see above you is a 3D culmination of all that, in the form of a rounded-tip spiked pacifier necklace pendant. Below you’ll see some paintings, LPs, and book covers he’s been commissioned to do.

Beware the living dead baby dolls!

If you take a look below I’m sure you’ll notice the lack of other 3D items beside the pacifier. Trevor Brown is almost 100% a 2D artist. He uses paints. But here with this sculpture he had the opportunity to create a 3D item. You graphic designers take a page out of TB’s book: make a few 3D items, get that stuff published by writers that cover more than just graphics, and join a much larger design conversation.

Pendant
15 sculptures
35 millimeters tall
Silver Mix
Good luck finding one.

If your luck is good, and you’re feeling generous, I’d love one! Thanks!

NOTE: you’re going to have to find his page on your own if you’re into this sort of stuff, and that shouldn’t be too hard if you’re a regular internet goer. The reason for that is some “inappropriate” images on there I wouldn’t want my associates thinkin I’m in to. The stuff in this post though: Grade A Weirdo Approved.

This post is straight out of the World Famous Design Junkies accessories category.

BONUS BEAST!

So guess what. I posted the comic you see above on a sort of “hidden” part of the site a few weeks ago on a bit of a whim, and it’s been getting hits every single day since then. More than a couple, shall we say. So I was all like “orly” and I did some fabulous investimagating with my magnifying glass (it’s got a tiny web address on it and I found the man who did it, he did it all: Phil Selby. He’s a cartoonographer. Or a cartooner?

Oh yes he is an illustrator. I don’t know what else I’d call a person like this. No, nothing else comes to mind. This guy, Phil, is a Type Conscious artist. He is a Type Conscious person. That makes him 50% stronger in life and in professionalism in the world than everyone who isn’t Type Conscious, and 100% stronger than everyone who isn’t conscious at all.

PS. All cartoons on this website © Phil Selby 2007-2009 – http://bigeyedeer.wordpress.com

Contact me at pselby@tpg.com.au

Cheers!

Phil

He’s a totally rad guy! Email him and talk to him and such! Below I’m sure you’ll find a spattering of his more hilarious comics (and so say all of us.)

This post is straight from the World Famous Design Junkies Bad Taste category, which incidentally might be the best tasting category of them all.

A chopped-off wolf head that’s so intense that it continues to reflect on the wilderness, and a boat floating up to mars surrounded by houses on fishing line. These are two examples of the utterly majestic art show that’s coming to the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco. This show is sharp and yet dreary, heavenly and yet vintage junky (vintage junky stuff is good stuff!) Get your heart set on artists Kevin E Taylor and Erik Otto, cause they gonna set your heart on fire. With oil paints!

NOTE: No tripping balls allowed in the gallery without express permission.

This show has sketches on paper, mixed media on bookbacks, oil on canvas, screenprint on wood, and one giant installation that “serves as the cornerstone for the show.” Can’t wait! What you see below is a bit of info on each of the two artists in the show, information on when the show takes place, the address and such, then a full preview of what the show contains!

Erik Otto visually illustrates a beautiful dream battled by an undercurrent of destruction. His paintings take the viewer to a place where chaos meets peace and loose meets refinement. Otto intuitively creates his works with found objects and recycled materials, providing an inherent history. All elements in his paintings enhance the significance of the other, from the warm colors, to the geometric figures to bursts of brilliant paint. His work narrates an autobiographical story, depicting the struggle to connect the awakened state to the desires found within.

Kevin E. Taylor’s body of work is devoted to the mystery of nature. Branching out to incorporate a brighter color pallet, Taylor paints in serene earth tones with subtle deviations. The creatures he paints are neither human nor animal but rather a mutated combination, questioning concepts of human posture, genetics and mortality. His oil paintings on wood reveal a beautiful symbiotic relationship in a melancholic environment. This collection of works act as a metaphor for an impending future by visually referencing the uncertainty and insecurity felt in today’s world.

“Terrestrial Syndrome”
New Works By Erik Otto and Kevin E. Taylor
Opening Reception: September 12th, 2009 from 7pm till 11pm.
Show runs through: October 3rd, 2009 and is open to the public.

Bust a move on down!

The Shooting Gallery
839 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
(P) 415 931 8035

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies unnatural nature category. Chop a wolf head!

I’m noticing a trend. Take a peek at this lovely no-spitting banner from the newest files of Basil E Frankwieler better known as Erik Brandt. The rules are clear!

This post from the mixed up category of World Famous Design Junkies typography

I bet you didn’t know that the average Wii controller has all kinds of guts like this. Guts. I’ve seen a lot of guts projects lately. That one with the lego guy turning around and around, those KAWS Dissected Companions from a few years ago. It’s no longer a joke! But that’s ok, that’s not what this is about anyway. It’s about how physical therapists are using the Wii to help their patients gain muscle strength by playing games! Yay Nintendo!

The designer behind this lovely image and poster is Angela Moramarco. She’s won heck-of-awards. You’d better listen. This thing is for an imaginary site http://anatowii.com/ which will potentially tell the winning physical points in using the Wii.

What parts do what for what!

Take a peek at the closer images below, the bigger versions are all at the top of the list of pics. Peek em out! This whole post is a part of the World Famous Design Junkies Arcade. UND also:: update from the designer herself:

Also wanted to note: worked with illustrator John Foerster to complete the concept. (www.foersterstudios.com)

Bangin!

Feast your blood-stained eyes upon this festering pile of nastiness. Artist Skinner has what your brain-eating hands need to hang on your walls. Made of acrylic and cell-paint they are. Framed in different colored frames they are. Brutality awaits!

To contact the nether-world, email skimmerdog2003@yahoo.com

Each of these images is painted, made with mainly acrylic and cell-paint (fun fact: artist KAWS use cell-paint almost exclusively.) Painted on wood. Also there’s a ton of installation artworks. The image you see above (along with several below) were made as an installation for a comic shop in Sacremento California: Big Brother Comics. That comic shop painting is based on action comic characters (as you see above) and Dungeons and Dragons monsters (as you’ll see below.)

AND now on with the show! Find ye a beast worthy of your pleasure!

This post is a part of the World Famous Design Junkies bad taste category. It will leave a bitter, salty taste in your mouth. But it’s not quite blood!

Check out Finsta Graphics! Totally excellent stuff and such. Illustrations of fat proportions, mainly. Discover the covers of albums and the backs of tshirts, and don’t miss the fruitillustrations on the walls of the streets, airbrushed to such a weirdness. But first, check above. Look at that thing. Nike and Adidas together at last. In truth a label made by Finsta for a (defunct?) clothing brand by the name of JIV.

Finsta is an artist from Sweden.

For questions or joboffers please e-mail: mail@finstafari.com

From the World Famous Design Junkies environment category. The JIV may be the most iconic moment of genius, but feast your eyes upon the installation artworks, especially the MTV painting. Then look upon the badness of the POP-EM records label.

Bad. Reeeeal bad. Ow!