Namsa Leuba is an astute visual storyteller. Whether capturing candid glimpses of mundane family life or exquisitely composed fashion fantasies, Leuba hints at worlds of rich, mythological narrative just outside the frame. Although only recently graduated from ECAL/University in Switzerland, Leuba’s already managed to cover an impressive variety of subject matter in her work, including an homage to the Black Panthers and a survey of bad-ass Congolese style.

One of Leuba’s main academic interests is African identity seen through Western eyes, and nowhere does this come into focus more than her series Ya Kala Ben. In 2011, Leuba left Switzerland and traveled to her mother’s homeland of Guinea to shoot the series, which draws upon the spiritual symbolism of Guinean animist artifacts and statuettes.

Modesty, luck, fecundity or a channel for exorcism, those statuettes hold a cultural value through what they represent or symbolise. With this work, I transform these objects, cosmological symbols of a community, who traditionally have a signification when used as part of rituals.

…In recontextualizing these sacred objects through the lens, I brought them in a framework meant for Western aesthetic choices and taste.

This photographic eye would make them speak differently. Throughout my fieldwork, I had to deal with sometimes violent reactions from Guineans who viewed my procedures/practices as a form of sacrilege. Some were afraid and were struck with astonishment.

The result is a stunning series of images that draws upon documentary and fashion photography to tell a personal story of African heritage. In Happy Polish, Leuba investigates an entirely disparate branch of her family tree. From an interview with LightRa:

One of my father’s uncles is married to a Polish woman and they have been living there for many years now. They have a fabric factory there and are quite wealthy people, and I got interested in the lives of their workers and of their family’s maids.

Embedding herself deeply within the lives of these workers’ families, Leuba captured gracefully intimate images of Polish domesticity: meals, idle moments, after-school malaise, midnight hi-jinks. Wherever globally her subject is situated, Leuba approaches with versatility, curiosity and empathy– yet she never loses her distinctive voice, and her eye for composition and color remains impeccable.

What do you like to see in a fashion photograph? Is there a mood or feeling you like your fashion work to be imbued with?

Sometimes I like to do fashion projects, but in a fine art direction and to have a fashion aesthetic. I try to do something fresh. I think that most of the time fashion pictures are very boring. I want to keep on my own project. That’s the thing that’s really important for me.

In Ya Kala Ben, you “desecrate” Guinean ritual artifacts by re-contextualizing them within Western stylistic choices– but you also spent months researching Guinean animist rituals and symbols. How did the artifacts’ original meanings inform your shooting?

I selected the artifacts meticulously to function with my pictures. It’s all dependent on the meaning of the situation. I take what I need to make my own ritual.

How did you find the Guinean models and acrobats featured in Ya Kala Ben? Was it difficult convincing them to participate in a project that some saw as sacrilege?

I traveled all across Guinea to accommodate the different rituals and ceremonies in my series. I went to so many places to find the good spots and to choose the right people. I personally created all the costumes and I chose every single thing that I used. When I got ready to shoot, I could waste no time. I had to avoid the sometimes violent reactions from people, because my humans models meant something holy.

Do you feel more connected to your Guinean roots after making Ya Kala Ben?

This trip was an opportunity to reconnect with some of my roots. I have always wanted to explore and share this other culture that is part of me. And I knew that the best way to do so was to visit the village founded by my great-grandfather. This pilgrimage to the land of some of my ancestors inevitably and immediately raised the sensitive question of “origin” or “origins.” Mine, that of my parents, of others (my subjects) and of my approach.

What sort of reactions have you gotten from Guineans who’ve seen the finished project of Ya Kala Ben?

Nobody has seen my work yet in Afrika. I would like to show them. I am sure it will be very interesting.

Throughout your work, images of bodies bound by rope, as well as faces obscured by plants and fabric seem to frequently arise. What attracts you to these aesthetic refrains?

This world is rigour, everything is in its place. I try to make with them to sculpt my subject. The sculpture it is the equivalent of a sacred text.

In both Happy Polish and Ya Kala Ben, you seem to have fully immersed yourself in an unfamiliar world. How do you navigate unfamiliar social territory to produce such gorgeously intimate images? What do you like about placing yourself in those types of situations?

I like meeting people and learning new things about them that I have not known. I am a social person. I like the challenge. It is very exciting and great. I think that I like knowing new people.

Where would you like your photography to take you in the future?

I am very enthusiastic for what’s coming next. At the beginning of 2014 I will go to South Africa for 5 months for my work. I won an artist residency there. I would like to travel around the world and have the luxury to keep working on my personal projects.

Simon Hanselmann is a sharp-witted Tasmanian rabble-rouser and cartoonist who writes intensely hilarious (trust me, you’ll literally LOL) comics about a depressed stoner witch (Megg), her feline lover (Mogg), their long-suffering avian roommate (Owl), and their motley crew of friends, including a werewolf famous for his epic, ludicrous party antics (Werewolf Jones).

Hanselmann’s been making comics since the tender age of 8, lovingly producing full-color booklets of his work and distributing them person-to-person wherever he could. But aside form provoking the ire of his high school principal, Hanselmann had trouble connecting with anyone outside a small handful of hardcore comic fans.

Then, earlier this year, Hanselmann decided to release a boatload of his comics for free on his Tumblr, Girl Mountain. As he explained to The Comics Journal, “I figured why the hell not just put it all online? At least then people will see it and perhaps know that I exist outside of my circle of friends and perplexed people at shabby, shirtless noise-shows.”

Now Hanselmann’s work is being enjoyed and shared by leagues of readers across the globe, and big-name magazines and publishers are starting to take notice. Read on to find out the how Hanselmann got so hilarious and which one of his characters has broken out as an Internet sex symbol!

After joining Tumblr earlier this year, your work exploded in popularity. What sort of surprising or unexpected feedback have you received from fans who discovered your work on Tumblr?

It’s just really surreal getting feedback in general, I’m so used to being way off of anybody’s radar, existing in tiny, insular, local chap-booklet scenes. It’s totally awesome getting heaps of really weird, cool/creepy “fan-art” and it’s nice when people tell me my jokes are landing sometimes and my work doesn’t totally suck.

It’s also scary and totally freaks me out. I have a lot of trouble with being alive sometimes and interacting with other meat-swaddled animated skeletons. Weirdly I’ve had several emails from different people who want to “date” Werewolf Jones. Werewolf Jones is apparently becoming some kind of bad-boy teen-idol.

It’s also really bizarre how well-liked Truth Zone (my criticism strip on Comics Workbook) has become with actual “big time”, “academic” “comics-critics”.

I need to keep up my game. People are watching me now.
Fuck.

One of the things that makes “Megg and Mogg” such a joy is your impeccable comic timing. What shaped your sense of humor?

Most likely my “Augusten Burroughs style” upbringing… I’ve always been surrounded by a lot of dysfunction. My Mother’s been a full-time “intravenous enthusiast” my entire life and Tasmania is full of psychopaths and dog-fuckers and just scary, SCARY people.

To deal with it all I became a sort of “Chandler” (from the hit sitcom ‘Friends’) type character, throwing out quips in the middle of the Christmas-morning vein-openings.

Life has predominately displayed a propensity to be unbearably difficult and depressing and everybody around me is weak and frail and seemingly unable to cope with being alone.

I cleverly use “comedy”, in my daily life and in my art, to cope with my crushing fear, guilt and weakness. : )

Also I watch a FUCKLOAD of sitcoms.

What kind of magic powers does Megg have?

Megg has no powers. She used to, in high school, but now she gets way too high and is way too depressed to pull off any of that complicated shit anymore.

She used to be able to rollerblade really well too, like full ramp-skating, but she can’t do that anymore either.

She did manage to ride a broomstick in that episode where Mogg had to get to his noise-show but she was so drunk she didn’t even realize it happened.

Why does Owl put up with so much abuse from Megg and Mogg?

They’ve been friends for a long time and are pretty much a 3-person domestic-couple at this point, plus Owl is quite often very drunk and forgets certain cruelties.

Owl IS somewhat well-adjusted and capable of success, but has horrible self-worth problems.

Spoiler alert: shit is going to go down in some upcoming “official continuity” story-arcs. Owl might be moving out…

Would you consider your work “stoner comedy”? Also, Megg and Mogg enjoy watching everything from iCarly to Kenneth Anger to an automatic car wash stoned. What’s your favorite thing to watch between bong rips?

When i started doing Megg and Mogg stories in ’08 i did set out to make it a “drug comic”, just the “stonedest” thing possible. It was my version of ‘How I Met Your Mother’, but stained with resin, and REAL…

I guess it’s a “stoner dramady”… All of the upcoming plots are about getting older and reality and weakness and the human brain. It will be much closer to ‘Requiem for a Dream’ than ‘Harold and Kumar’…

IMO, the best thing on television right now is ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’.

As evidenced by that awesome and hilarious letter of reprimand from your high school principal, you have an impressive pedigree when it comes to printed matter. In your opinion, what makes a good small press, and what are some of your favorite presses operating today?

Yeah, in the past fifteen or so years I’ve done everything from standard “zines” to “hand-bound hardbacks painted with blood” to “slideshow VHS cassettes” to “origami”. But probably the one thing that matters is hot content. Good writing, good taste. AND killer style. But above all, good jokes, and good sadness… and distro, that’s important. I could never get my shit together distro-wise…

Being trapped in Australia and having only recently gotten my shit together and gotten onto the internet properly, I’m only just getting my head around the current worldwide small-press scene and slowly figuring it all out and trying to find all the buried treasure.

Currently I’m excited by Space Face Books (Mack’s got a pretty hot BCGF line-up), Oily Comics (the whole thing is just utterly fucking charming), and anything that’s coming out of the whole Deforge/Paddy Kyle “zone” (scary/inspiring workaholics).

When can we expect the first “Girl Mountain” book to come out, and what can we look forward to from that series?

I was just talking about this yesterday with a group of local cartoonist friends. I kind of don’t want to release it at all… I drew it ’06 through ’10 and it just feels like a bit of a mess to me. It needs a heavy edit. I would prefer that a 244page fully-painted colour comic not have to be put aside as a “learning experience” and “a mistake” but maybe it’ll have to be… and i’m okay with that.

If I do continue with it, readers can expect lots of awkward, teen graveyard-sex, space travel, rooms that make you want to die if you go into them, haunted space-travel and black magic. It’s 1000 pages long, it spans 7 years, it’s glacially paced, it was written by a kid.

I might just re-start the whole thing or pick its wreckage apart for other purposes… I’ll probably at least show it to some publishers at some point in the future but Megg and Mogg are now my main focus for at least the next 3 years… they’re consuming all of my time. I’m head over heels in love with them.

And I think I learnt from some of my mistakes.

What are some of your favorite comics that came out in the last year?

Deforge is still on fire and is truly frightening, I get a fair amount of shit done but HOLY HELL. I hope he gets a boyfriend or a girlfriend soon and stops freaking everybody out with his intense sleepless bachelor shtick.

I can’t get enough Dane Martin. Aidan Koch is awesome. Mickey Z is awesome. Negron is awesome. Heather Benjamin‘s drawings gross me the fuck out but in a beautiful heart-warming way…

Most of my favorite comics right now are coming out of my best friend HTML Flowers‘ bedroom, he’s getting better and better at comics and i’m super happy that i have such a cool BFF. I LOVE him (I LOVE you, buddy. CUTE BOYS ALERT).

Also in Melbourne, Michael Hawkins is doing some hot shit, we’ve been friends for 10 years and I LOVE everything he does. Marc Pearson is about to release a pretty nice looking new book, he’s getting pretty good. Lashna Tuschewski is really fucking cool and i wish she’d make a million more comics. Sam Wallman is totally cool. Michael Fikaris is printing up really great tabloid anthologies. I dig Katie Parrish too, she’s pretty cool.

Also I love Megg and Mogg. I’ll sit around for hours laughing at that shit. Oh, wait… I do that one… LOL

According to her bio, photographer Akasha Rabut is “based out of New Orleans, New York City, San Francisco and Chicago.” But really, Rabut is based out of everywhere. Wherever Rabut happens to be wandering, she’s prone to capture gorgeous moments of ephemeral intimacy. If there’s any common thread in Rabut’s globe-trotting body of work, it’s a feeling of deep kinship– a very human bond between photographer and subject that shines through the graceful stillness of her compositions.

How is your photography influenced by your travels? Where are your favorite places to take pictures?

I love an adventure and exploring the unknown. I’m inspired by unfamiliar scenery and I’m always entertained by everyday encounters and interactions. Traveling to foreign territory and watching people interact with each other is one of my favorite pastimes. There’s also something about traveling that helps me gain clarity in life and in my photography.

My favorite places to take pictures are the Pacific Northwest and Wyoming. I recently went to a tiny land mass gathered in between the cluster of islands off the coast of Vancouver called Saturna. I haven’t been able to get the landscape out of my head and I’m really enjoying the photos that I took there.

What’s the story behind A High School for Teenage Parents?

I’m very interested in adolescent girls and social issues. A High School for Teenage Parents was inspired by A Teenage Slumber Party. Toward the end of that project, sex was a hot topic, although all of the girls were virgins. I began researching teen pregnancy in the United States and learned that the US has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the developed world. Teen mothers are less likely to graduate from high school and very rarely get the opportunity to go to college. Aside from lower educational levels and higher poverty rates teen pregnancies are associated with an entourage of many different social issues.

I really wanted to do a project about teen pregnancy that had a positive spin on things. Unfortunately there are not that many High schools in the US that are dedicated to educating teen parents. Coincidentally, one of the first high schools for teen parents was started in San Francisco – that’s where I was living at the time. I contacted Hill Top with my project idea and they immediately invited me to come photograph their students.

I remember the first day of my project, I accidentally stumbled into the cafeteria. There were about 30 baby carriages parked against the wall and a room full of teenagers that were either pregnant or holding an infant. It was an incredible sight. The school was dense with so much information and imagery. Everywhere I looked there was something graphically interesting happening. I think I burned through 10 rolls of film that day.

The most inspiring quality of that school was that its focus is to provide teen mothers with a full spectrum of educational services. So they can be responsible, effective and self-sufficient parents. The school offers everything from parenting education to prenatal education, health education, nutrition education, life skills classes, peer support groups and counseling. I don’t think very many people know that that school exists. It was thrilling to be a part of that environment and have the opportunity to do a project there.

Who inspires you?

My friends and my family continue to inspire me on a daily basis. I’m a part of an all-female photography collective called Southerly Gold. The group includes myself and three other amazing ladies that live in New Orleans. We work on projects together and give each other a lot of constructive feedback. We actually have our second group show coming up this fall. It’s really motivating to be surrounded by such talented women. I’m also inspired by the work of Daniel Seung Lee, David Chencellor, Andrew B Myers, Taryn Simon and Stefan Ruiz.

What was shooting A Teenage Slumber Party like?

A Teenage Slumber Party was exactly what you would imagine it to be. It was incredibly silly and then there were moments when things were grave and somber. I had initially intended on following them for all 4 years of high school. About 6 months into it I started receiving text messages and phone calls at all hours of the night, and actually had to buy a text plan specifically for this project.

These girls confided in me like I was a diary, which was quite daunting. At that point I realized that I was becoming emotionally involved and I interpreted that as signal to finish the project early. The project spanned a little over a year and I think I got some amazing images. I also walked away with a valuable learning experience.

What’s your trick to capturing a great portrait?

I wish I had a trick! Making portraits can be really difficult. I work with so many different personalities on a regular basis. I’ve learned that it really helps to pay attention to body gestures and patterns and figure out what makes a person feel comfortable in front of the camera. The best portraits that I’ve taken have been while people are relaxed and off guard.

Wuvable Oaf: a big, burly, beefy, bodacious, bad-ass bloke who loves Morrissey, kittens and men. Oaf originated four years ago as a single drawing for a paper doll– but Oaf was destined for bigger things. Artist Ed Luce’s drawing evoked such visceral responses from his friends, he decided to expand Oaf’s presence into a comic book series. From there, an entire universe was born.

Ed could have easily allowed Oaf’s legacy to end after that first illustration, but the character was imbued with a very rare graphical immediacy. Like Hello Kitty or Emily the Strange, Wuvable Oaf is an icon whose mere image evokes instant responses from strangers. Through comics, t-shirts, scratch n’ sniff cards, international art shows and 7″ singles, Ed and Wuvable Oaf are step by step taking over the world. Read below to find out what life will be like after the Oaf regime takes power, and don’t miss Ed Luce at San Diego Comic Con July 12-15!

What are you working on these days? Is there a new issue of Wuvable Oaf in the works?

Since the release of the latest Oaf mini-comic, Kisses Kerry King/Rawk Gawdz, I’ve been working mostly on anthology stuff for other people. Family Style, a Portland-based publisher, puts out a very fun sword and sorcery comic called Elf World, with a revolving group of creators; the first “Wuvable Ogre” tale is in issue #3.

I just finished a story for Henry & Glenn Forever & Ever #1, a new series based on the original comic about punk legends Rollins and Danzig in a domestic partnership. Oaf’s wrestling alter ego Goteblud will make an appearance in Mark Rudolph’s upcoming Satan Is Alive Mercyful Fate tribute comic, celebrating the early 80′s metal band. I did the cover and a color Oaf story for Robert Kirby’s THREE #3, also featuring work by Carrie McNinch, Howard Cruse and several other prominent queer creators. And by the time people read this, we’ll have released the first DIY Oaf Doll Kit, which I had a lot of fun designing and sewing.

We’re also honored to be included in Justin Hall’s upcoming No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics anthology, published by Fantagraphics; it reprints some early Oaf stories. Oaf will be making an appearance in Bruno Gmunder’s FUR The Love of Hair, which is a color coffee table photo book celebrating all things manly and hirsute, coming out in May.

Later in the summer, I’m looking to debut two new shirt designs (I can tell you one– OAF HULK!) at San Diego Comic-Con.

It may seem like I take these long breaks between proper Oaf issues but in reality I’m working non-fucking-stop!

Oh yeah…Wuvable Oaf #4 is set to release in time for the Alternative Press Expo this fall! I hope.

What can we anticipate from Wuvable Oaf in the future? Do you already know the direction the story and characters will take, or does it evolve with each issue?

I’d like to finally get a collected trade edition of Oafs #0-4 and all the minis out in 2013. Expect more minis, including a cats only issue featuring the Oaf Hybrid Cat (from the shirt design).

I have plotted future story arcs for all the Oaf characters, as hinted at in issue #0. Once Oaf’s date saga with Eiffel wraps, we’ll be following Smusherrrr in #5, with back-up stories about Oaf stalking Eiffel on tour. My collaborator Matt is writing the Smusherrrr arc, which will have a somewhat different tone than my stuff. Darker, stranger…and quite possibly funnier. I’m really looking forward to it!

How did you learn to draw comics, and what were your earliest comic inspirations?

I dabbled with comic strips in college but once I left for grad school, I was all about painting, performance and installation. When I returned to comics with the Oaf project, there was something of a learning curve, in regard to putting together an actual sustained narrative. So I feel like my first attempts at sequential storytelling bear the marks of those growing pains. But really, I’ve bought and read comics my whole life, so working with that visual language felt fairly natural. I just applied my technical skills to a different medium and method.

Gosh…earliest inspirations?! I’ve collected Marvel and DC comics my whole life, but I wouldn’t say they particularly inspired what I do now. I have to admit, when I first discovered indie comics, I was reading a lot of Dan Clowes and Chris Ware. But honestly, I feel like the Oaf is a reaction against that stuff more than anything; the sort of sardonic, depressive vibe that’s permeated a lot of indie comics since the late 90′s. I guess you can be inspired by something in such a way that you want to make sure you’re rebelling against it…?

To more directly answer your question, early on I really admired the drawing styles and large casts of characters in the Love & Rockets books. The Hernandez brothers put a lot of love and time into creating those worlds. Gilberto has always been my favorite; I love his kooky character designs and textures.

Who are some of your favorite up and coming artists? Who’s making work that inspires you?

I had a great experience chatting with Chris Houghton at WonderCon this year. He and his brother Shane put out Reed Gunther via Image Comics… it’s just a joy to read. Playful, sweet, unpretentious. One of the few books I could recommend for all ages that doesn’t feel pinched or cloying.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I’m not sure if people are sick of me talking about Johnny Ryan yet (maybe he is) but I’m definitely inspired by his Prison Pit series. It’s as nasty, sexy and violent as any hardcore porn. I know some of my gay friends really don’t like the imagery or language but honestly, the first book reads like some radical, extreme erotica, if can make the mental shift. It’s all about penetration and regeneration, with literal and metaphorical erections throughout. And no, I don’t care if homoeroticism was never Johnny’s intention. Seriously, I could go on and on about its conceptual merits…awesome stuff.

What makes you laugh?

My partner Mark and my cat, mostly. As any cat owner knows, felines spend a lot of time trying really hard to look cool and act sophisticated. It’s this general aloofness that makes them all the more hilarious when you catch them doing something silly. After I sewed the first Oaf doll together, I had a solid hour of mirth photographing my cat Luna’s reactions to it. Ultimately, she let it ride her…and I don’t think I have to tell you how amusing that was.

Shalo P. is a fascinating character and an incredible artist. His drawings and cartoons are pulsing with life: frenzied, ebullient and occasionally frightening. They’re like psychic portraits, capturing a cacophony of thoughts simultaneously.

Shalo is part of a fantastic new show opening at Synchronicity Space in July, curated by Drippy Bones publisher Keenan Marshall Keller. It’s called Freak Scene and opens on July 6th. Check it out and read below for a breathtakingly epic interview with Shalo that touches on everything from the sex industry to fluorescent zebras.

Comment to win a set of two Shalo P. zines!

Do you ever think about time and your place in the history of the world?

It’s sucker business to quantify the importance of one’s deeds amid the irrational finality of dying or to measure one’s kaleidoscope of interactions on the assumption that the rest of humanity noticed some of them or not (as they naturally were enthralled by their own battles with time and death). History’s a term for what happens before and after the millisecond we exist. Time’s that everlasting absence spanning all the darkness of eternity in both directions.

I’ve always preferred the present. An environmental cataclysm looms on one side and a critical mass of expressive energy on the other – flanked by all sort of corporate scheme to sway the in-betweens into fake hippie dippy “self actualization” or Dracula.

Culture’s naked and wet in front of the mirror, clean from the digital bath that blends everything together – fucking hippies, beatniks, poets, fascists, devils, racists all sharing this same age – exposed to the same atom bomb of information and suffering the fall out radiation that’ll mutate them into something real interesting. Internet’s proven it wants to fuck and get fucked from its copious porn (erotic novels got published 150 years before the first scientific journals). But since the games is not only been sped up but broadened, the human psyche’s propensity for “whatever the fuck” will be bare when the next age looks over it’s shoulder (which is likely to happen concurrently – spiraling humankind into a self-conscience nervous breakdown that’ll have people attacking each other in the streets as the sea level rises and giant robot sharks leaping from buildings).

Old paintings revealed the ages that bore them and distinguished the few occasions when living wasn’t all that half bad – those were called renaissances. The poignancy is that everyone metaphorically participates if not by logging in and sharing some insightful facet of existence then by inaction. To me that sounds so cool.

There’s a scene in one of the final chapters of The Watchmen comic book where a character studies humanity’s hidden face through an array of television monitors – chiseling out meaning from it symbols, visual language and synesthetic swirl – revealing the tensions that would eventually break it.

Everything is possible. Everything’s always been possible.

With all this in the balance we’re only just crawling out of that horrible hole we call humanity.
(I hope history says I was a fine lover and a fabulous dancer.)

What would you be like if you were born in twenty years earlier?

I can’t go back twenty years into that pit of snakes. They’d tear me apart like last time – rake me down the street and break my heart again. I’d hate it. No way. It’s like I can’t get enough of the rampant sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, intolerance and exploitation in this age. Most people that have heard of me don’t know (but may suspect) that my skin is darker than others. This has also led me to a whole bunch of unnecessary racism, which would leap three-fold easily in that “in your face” sort of way. The false charms of the overdeveloped world come in vivid HD and polyphonic 5.1 dolby stereo, but at least it’s a transparent sham. I don’t romanticize the past. It never sounds quaint or heroic to me. It just looks like a shit storm of stone-age bullshit.
If I die today let them know I was pro-gay, sex-positive, pro-sex worker, pro-writing letters, pro-friendship, pro-dancing, pro-aware of stuff, pro-virtue over profit & pro-doing good. If I was sent back then I’d be asking God stupid questions about Scooby Doo rather than wikipedia. And where would I be able to find mind-bending video art streaming free as rainwater down a gutter?

Tell me about a friendship or relationship that ended in a way that changed you as a person.

I’ve learned everything from friendships. Friendships cured me of an awful childhood. One friend taught me that you can always be a child as long as you hate as purely as you can love.

Would you rather ride in a blimp or a submarine?

At the end of “You Only Live Twice”, James Bond turns to his sweetheart and whispers, “they’ll never find us” just as a submarine surfaces and raises their little boat onto its deck. If a blimp crossed the sky at that exact moment with the words “eat shit, baby” written on it, I could do with both while remaining with neither.

Given a private audience with all of the world’s leaders for a five minute speech (followed by a Q&A session), what would you want them to know?

part I

(I thought of this question for hours, Graham. I care about what I’d have to say if the “world leaders” were present. But who are these “world leaders”? What is there to say to the most corrupt of us? Any format of speaking to them would undoubtedly have a formulaic follow-up on their part to excuse inaction. How could I speak to them if they haven’t listened to any cries for compassion in all of history? They’re a joke and civilization’s been this long drawn out punchline giving us “the constant class war pretending to be anything else (racism, ethnic cleansing, you name it…)”. If I could keep it simple and the “world’s leaders” could hear it ring so true they’d act immediately I’d repeat the Utah Phillips quote “The earth is not dying. It is being killed, and the people killing it have names and addresses” But a human is merely an animal starving for power…)

part II

“You’ve failed us.
Poverty – a seven letter word starting with a letter P. Like piss. Like Powercastle. Not as “scary” as talk of terror training camps, or militaristic desert indoctrination, or stones smashing freedom’s windshield while it drops liberty and justice off at prom or a shark leaping over a Cadillac. But Poverty kills more than any war or other plague of mankind’s doing. Every day. Every minute. Every second. Death. Slow Starving Death. Sudden Violent Death.
It just sounds boring because it is banal – so banal no one really wants to deal with it. How are we going to stop poverty – give out nickels out to everyone we see?
The first step is in finally getting “somewhere”.

What do we have going now?
Sexism. Racism. Exploitation. Internet Spam. Death.

What are diamonds worth? What are a pair of child-labor sneakers worth? What’s an ounce of youth worth when it’s put through the wringer in order to only accelerate our present condition? What’s education when it stopped teaching us anything?

Has any government every truly represented it’s people?
Propagating the casual slavery of consumerism will not save a world from its murder. The gross national product of any country has no reciprocal environmentally. Leisure and work exist at different measures along varying degrees of class lines to equally abusive degrees. Both are killing us – if boredom doesn’t. What’s the next step? If it isn’t fucking you over and spraying “eat shit” on your walls then what is it? What is exploitation but always snatching away what you’ve been promised for so long?

Any political system is rife with asskissers and handwringers. Progress is mired when it’s just a popularity contest between assholes. Human cruelty, at a continuous peak is the only thing making strides. You want an evil dictator crushed? You want terrorism to end? It’s not safe for two men to kiss in public on 99% of the streets of “freer than thou” USA. A woman out of her place in most countries will lose some teeth for stepping out of line. Slavery and staunch castes systems – all still there.

We can see the substance behind beams of light in the nether reaches of space but can’t face what makes a human soul turn black.

We must deal with biological imperative – the sexual urge. Understand the exponential repercussions of its repression in societies – rape, spousal abuse, gay bashing, misogyny, child abuse, creepy catholic priests…

Let’s deal with the sex industry as if it has actually existed since the dawn of humankind and not as if it was a smudge of chocolate to be scrubbed away with violent force, alienation or intimidation. Your kind sons and daughters may or may not choose to participate in the sex industry – as patrons or professionals. It’s the destiny of all children to make due with where their genital will go. Unionize the sex trade. Don’t criminalize a trade you can never suffocate. It is bred by a natural impulse, it is tended to by human beings. Use your energy to combat those that profane this primal urge with child sex tours (the sport of your CEO friends), slavery (the trade of your CEO friends), and exploitation (remind you of any friends?).

Make reform in education your new priority. How about dancing classes? There are loads of talented smart insightful people at your disposal.

The consequences are real. World’s not dying – world’s being murdered. The systems of communication and group action are rearranging with the digital age – please be open to them. If they had introduced the printing press at the same time the earth was crumbling in half it would probably be the same situation.

Let’s stop treating all our women like shit.
Let’s acknowledge everyday that the wealth has been distributed so disproportionately that it’s affected our sense of humanity.
We’re a bunch of self-serving assholes and we probably all deserve to die. But we can’t die.
Who would tell all our stories? Who would sing our songs? Maybe the wind and the trees will echo them down.
Humankind cries from it’s first second of life with little variation until its demise. But there is always some form of beauty in that struggle.

We may have the technological advances imaginable (with more on the way), but we need to take account of what really fucking matters – you fucking scum!”

If you couldn’t be involved in the arts or culture in any way, what kind of career would you pursue?
I don’t know. I’d be a soccer player, maybe.
Most pleasures cannot escape the simplistic way I view art, like the interesting ways some people braid hair or the raw expression on a lover’s face that makes your stomach all weird.
A world without these things would resemble that big white room in THX 1138.

Describe the human being you would most like to meet.
I’m not as fond of human beings as of what they are capable of.
I always love a good story and I’m always ready to hear one.

You can select any non-domesticated, exotic animal to be your lifelong companion and share a telepathic bond. Which one will it be?
I’m so hard to get along with that it’d have to be one that wouldn’t gore or maul me. I’d like a fluorescent zebra.

What can I do to help the world be more like Shalo’s utopia?
I can’t fathom my own utopia. But when I see people make out I always nod and think “right on”.

Annie Lapin‘s paintings represent a healthy mix of cerebral contemplation and audacious instinct. Framed by centuries of art history, Lapin’s work culls from the conventions of landscape painting and then obscures those familiar elements with unsettling layers of abstraction. I teamed up with Boston-based magazine New American Paintings to interview this renowned painter in her downtown L.A. studio, and take a look at her unique process.

It’s an important question to ask an artist: “Why do you make stuff?” At its core, the answer I’d always love to hear an artist say is, “I make stuff for myself.” It seems to me that those are the artists that show genuine talent. So, what happens when you ask two people– partners in life and art– to try and describe the force that drives them, and the things in life that got them to that point?

Victor Cayro and Becca Kacanda are a couple, and they’re both incredibly prolific and inspiring artists. I first began my working relationship with Victor and Becca when they participated in a show that took place at Synchronicity Space, under the moniker Big Apple Graphicxz. Since then, I’ve received epic, epic emails and occasionally a phone call that leaves me in awe of their superhuman character.

Here, Victor Cayro and Becca Kacanda on the question of: Why do you make stuff?

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There’s an atomic afterglow emanating from the paintings of Iva Gueorguieva. They brim with so much kinetic energy, I’d totally understand if you felt a little intimidated by their labyrinthine compositions. But that’s a good thing: Gueorguieva’s work is like a challenge– a taunt inciting you to dig deep below the layers of her shapes and forms. Like an epic mural, your eyes can land almost anywhere on the canvas and find something interesting. Read them backwards and forwards, left and right, and you’ll only uncover more mysterious sub-plots of intense emotion swimming amidst an overarching abstract narrative.

The latest issue of New American Paintings includes a fantastic feature on Iva, penned by the awesome Evan J. Garza. The magazine wanted to delve deeper into Iva’s work and examine her process in action, so we teamed up to make the video above. Iva was gracious enough to allow me into her L.A. studio, where she shared the importance of sound, time and space in her work. Examining those enormous paintings and collages up close, I felt like I might fall in.

Edition #91 of New American Paintings (with a cover by Erik Mark Sandberg) is on newsstands now! Check out more images of Iva Gueorguieva’s work after the jump.

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Ed. Note: I’m pleased as peaches to present the following feature on artist Jason Villegas and his magnificent multi-dimensional artwork. Below you’ll find an insightful interview by Dan Rosplock, alongside exclusive portraits shot by Landon Metz. Don’t miss our unprecedented giveaway of Jason’s original art piece!! – Graham

Like energy and matter, meaning cannot be destroyed, only redistributed. The symbols in Jason Villegas’s artworks are the children of complacent capitalist icons born into an unpredictable environment. As such, they retain something of the glamorous impact of their forebears, yet their uncertain future has forced them to become more versatile. These are cyborgs, war machines, strange hybrids and channelers of mystical energy suited for survival in any scenario. Villegas is one of those rare creative personalities who seems to be able to reform any cultural construct or market force no matter how concrete or abstract into something more resilient, useful, and, above all, beautiful. He recently took some time to talk to us about such diverse topics as globalism, mainstream Bear aesthetics, and how he came to be a master seamster.

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Tao Lin is well known for his wily literary accomplishments, which include writing a book called Shoplifting from American Apparel and then selling it at Urban Outfitters, inciting the ire of Gawker with his mysterious Internet pranks, and basing his latest novel, Richard Yates, around the suicidal angst shared between a pair of lovers named Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning.

But when he’s not busy changing the face of literature or sparking hip hop-level firestorms of blogtroversy between improbably irascible haters and die-hard fanatics, Lin indulges himself in the visual arts. His subject? Hamsters. His tools of the trade? MS Paint, Photoshop and construction paper. At a book tour stop in L.A. Tao took the time to chat about his process, share some juicy details on his forthcoming iPhone App, North American Hamsters, and gives us a quick lesson on how to draw a hamster.