For centuries, writers, intellectuals, musicians, and other artists have used images of contemporary figures to convey social messages that discuss the world at large. As a result, it’s a near-established rule of thumb that satire should be taken with a grain of salt. It’s not personal, per se ; it’s more than that. Satire, the smiling voice for the discontented, is as much a part of democratic cultures as free elections and pyrotechnics on national holidays. Think Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator , Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove , and more recently, South Park . Now, think Zeid Hamdan. Directed by the Italian director Gigi Rocatti, the video for “General Suleiman”—the 2010 single for Hamdan’s bilingual electro ensemble Zeid and the Wings —gave domestic fans and international audiences a glimpse at modern day Lebanon, a society all too familiar with war and its tragic consequences. The video which features the colorful faces of Beirut is enhanced by sonic simplicity, something which turns the listener’s focus toward the reggae track’s message to the country’s president, Michael Suleiman. “”General Suleimen,” the lyrics follow, “Put your weapons down, put your weapons down, now it’s time to leave your warlords behind.”

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Italian Direction Provides Glimpses of Lebanon Life in "General Suleiman"

Four artists – among them one who creates sculptures from make-up and soil – are shortlisted for this year’s prestigious Turner Prize.

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Turner Prize hopefuls announced

A new book of eye-popping art from revered designer Tristan Eaton When Tristan Eaton isn’t designing toys or reworking brand identities as head of Thunder Dog Studios , he can be found collaborating with an array of today’s exciting artists. An incredibly talented designer in his own right—with works in the permanent collections of both the Cooper Hewitt Museum and MoMA—Eaton has been an advocate of street culture since his time at Kid Robot. In the forthcoming ” 3D Art Book ” from Prestel, Eaton curates over 100 hundred eye-popping illustrations from a cast of influential graphic designers, painters and clothing brands. Eaton’s love for stereoscopic images emerged at age 19, when as an apprentice at Detroit’s famed screen-printing shop Highway Press , he began silk screening 3D posters. Less than a decade later through his breakthrough solo show, “3D Happy Action Fun,” Eaton introduced the aesthetic into the concrete art gallery world. His work was so strongly received that shortly after he began working on a 3D project with a small group of artists including The London Police , Superdeux and Jeff Soto . Eaton was inspired by reviving what was merely novel technology during the ’60s and seeing how it is reflected today, saying “When you compare the artists in this book, you will see that we share nostalgia for the good old days of alternative art and pop culture; when you contrast us, you will see how each of us outsiders have re-envisioned these references in our own unique ways.” Taking four years for completion, works featured in the 224-page book include those from revered artists like Bill McMullen, Cey Adams, Dr. Revolt, Pose, Tara McPherson and Ron English. “3D Art Book” will be released in April 2011 and will include two pairs of retro 3-D glasses. The book is available for pre-order from Amazon and Powells .

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3D Art Book

It’s difficult, of course, to find a Jay-Z CD at Walmart, because Jay-Z is so damn smutty. And Walmart, through the years, has also deemed a whole bunch of other artists morally wanting. This is because Walmart is so obviously a righteous company. Except, of course, when it’s peddling make-up to minors. The Atlantic Wire’s Deb Weinstein has a good round-up, which you can find here .

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Walmart’s New Baby Prostitute Line of Cosmetics

Q:  I’m an iPad owner that is overwhelmed by the number of applications available. Where should I start if I’m looking for a way to discover some new music? AWEDITORIUM Free | Version: 1.0 | Thesixtyone “What kind of backwards society do we live in where we limit the genius of a Thom Yorke or Trent Reznor to a single vertical column?” asks this app’s evangelical creator, making a fair point about iTunes’ grid prison and other lame digital music album art. Enter Aweditorium, a daring attempt to remedy this problem. At heart it offers a way to discover and listen to new music. But what’s new and delightful here are the multimedia extras woven into each song. You get: a fun-to-browse mosaic of album art; nicely rendered lyrics-as-subtitled; video interviews; pop-up blurbs about the band’s history and influence; and sharing, bookmarking, and buying options. Prepare to be entranced. STYLE GUIDE : At launch the app’s stocked exclusively with tunes aimed mainly at the admittedly amorphous hipster set. That still gets you a wide swath of sounds, from angsty mellow to angry metal. (If you really feel at home, add www.thesixtyone.com to your web browser; it’s an online sibling of this app.) Artists get included by application only, which is how the app gets its goodies (the info blurb, lyrics, and so on). NAVIGATION STATION : Lots of different ways to explore: tap any photo; finger pan around the large mosaic; or, once you’re listening to a song, swipe in any direction. That box in the upper-left corner is a miniature of the collection — tap any spot to move there. The green dot represents the center of your screen, gray bars are songs you’ve heard. Other colors show the exploratory locations of fellow listeners (great for seeing clusters of interest). FUN FACTS : Your treats play out while the song plays. You can finger drag the pop-up info boxes, which appear at random intervals. The lower-right icon goodies let you: pause/play; share and collect your faves; find other songs by the same artist and shop on iTunes; watch video interviews while listening to the song; watch full-screen videos; and head back to the main grid. LYRIC LIST : When you’re in full screen photo mode, tap the screen once any time to see the lyrics at the bottom of the screen. If you do nothing at the song’s end, the app scrolls a new one onscreen for you. But the whole point is to poke around. If you don’t like what you’re hearing, pinch or swipe for something new; there’s a nice fade-out/fade-in effect as you move between songs. HONORABLE MENTION: BANDMATE: CONCERT TIPSTER HD $2.99 | Version: 3.4 | WellAlright So Aweditorium’s got you in a musical sort of mood. Ready for the real thing? Here’s a wonderful way to discover who’s playing live. The app starts with a deep tissue study of your iPad’s music. The Events tab then lists where and when each band is playing, along with other acts Bandmate thinks you’ll like. (Use the Artists tab to turn off musician you don’t want the app to factor in. Or, manually add in ones not in your iTunes collection.) You can instruct the app to search for events near your current location or in another city. Oddly precise strength-of-match percentages appear next to each recommendation (Pink Floyd is 71% similar to ex-lead singer Roger Waters, which, on second thought, sounds just about right). Tools mentioned in this entry: APPLE IPAD More questions? View the complete Toolkit archive . Excerpted from Peter Meyers’ Best iPad Apps: The Guide for Discriminating Downloaders . Copyright 2010 O’Reilly Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission . Read more Atlantic Technology Channel book excerpts .

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iPad Apps: Best App for Discovering New Music

Color, materials and concepts in a three-artist show While on first blush the three artists currently showing at San Francisco’s Altman Siegel gallery all appear to have different techniques and themes, the exhibit compares their “meticulous use of materials” and often witty conceptual works. The show includes paintings and mixed-media pieces by Chris Johanson, Matt Keegan and Charley Harper—a trio that collectively spans generations but possess a similar outlook on life’s curious moments and the human condition. Harper, the most well-established of the three, laid the foundation for many modern graphic designers with his ability to deconstruct a complex image into simple geometric forms—a style he called “minimal realism.” While visually disparate, Keegan’s pared-down approach feels similar to Harper’s, with a no-frills use of text or boldly-emphasized shapes leading his style. Like Keegan, Johanson’s subjects also tackle societal issues through text, but the Portland, OR-based artist uses a color palette that more closely resembles Harper’s vivid combinations. Alluring hues draw viewers in and, like both other artists in the show, his deliberate choice of materials is evident. The group show runs through 5 February 2011 at Altman Siegel . See more images in the gallery below.

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Chris Johanson, Charley Harper and Matt Keegan

A Minneapolis production company by day and art gallery by night Runner Runner Gallery , a new art space within a production studio, will open its second show, featuring the recent work of Minneapolis-based artists Brian Lesteberg and James Holmberg . In the heart of the warehouse district, the interdisciplinary venue is a welcomed gesture in the Minneapolis art scene. Next Thursday’s opening for the show, inviting likeminded students and professionals from the film, advertising, and music industries to come together, embodies the ethos of the project. “It’s sort of a party for art,” describes jMatt Keil, Runner Runner’s vice president of business development. “We’re really excited to show our support and to put on a night of great entertainment.” The show itself positions Holmberg’s large-scale dreamy photographs against selections from Lesteberg’s most recent project, Raised To Hunt , a document of the journey of hunters through northern Minnesota. Many of the photographs show vast expanses of frozen landscape but after a closer look, an impression of either the killer or the killed— whether drops of blood or a silhouetted parka—emerges. Jarring, intentional violence brings with it a deep sense of natural validation for Lesteberg’s hunters. The extreme photographic detail brings to life even the most banal parts of the killing process, a startling honesty that has something in common with fellow Minnesotan Alec Soth’s 8 x 10 field format. Like Lesterberg’s photographs, Holmberg’s massive canvases take up the entire field of vision, but that’s where the similarity ends. Holmberg’s paintings confront the viewer with a vast wash of minimal color textured with abstract blobs of pigment. Immediately recalling the softly-focus drive-by shots of “Taxi Driver,” Holmberg’s cinematic style makes the production company/gallery venue all the more appropriate. Runner Runner Gallery’s high ceilings and cement floors, don’t hurt either artists’ works either. Runner Runner shares the space with affiliate companies Fischer Edit/FX and Modern Music . All three post-production companies thrive together within this collaborative workspace. “In some ways,” explains curator Luke Erickson, “Runner Runner seems like a healthier gallery space, not to mention a model for the business of exhibition, than many I’ve visited.” “It’s not surprising that it would start here,” says Ian Bearce, executive producer at Runner Runner. “When we’re not in the office, we’re deejaying, playing in touring bands, painting, making films. We’re thrilled to find another way to participate in the local scene.” The show opens this Thursday, November 18 from 6-9pm and runs through the next few months.

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Runner Runner Gallery

A London artist’s knife skills and knack for precision are the subject of our latest video “Some people like taking their time,” says artist Kim Rugg , whose artistic achievements are measured in millimeters, spent X-ACTO blades and picas. We spent the afternoon with Rugg in her London home and studio talking about her work re-imagining newspapers, comics, stamps and cereal boxes using their existing form while rearranging their content. Kim finds inspiration from the mundane and common objects around us. Her wicked knife skills and tenacious attention to detail have create a body of work that is as impressive as it is curious.

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Cool Hunting Video Presents: Kim Rugg

A new publication richly documents one of Milan’s most progressive young galleries Keeping with the family business, Nicol

Our chat with the curator of a new online concept championing young female creatives Advertorial content: Pushing insistently at what a blog is and can do, the recently-launched Art She Said site is an interesting take on storytelling in the digital age. Teams of visual artists and writers collaborate to create a loose serialized narrative over the course of three weeks under the sharp eye of curator Alexis Hyde . Supported by Ann Taylor , the project is essentially an open platform for celebrating the work of young female artists on the rise. When we heard about Art She Said, we were interested in getting to know the people behind the project. Here, we speak with Alexis Hyde about art disasters, Los Angeles rising, and gut reactions. In no less than two but no more than three sentences, who are you and what do you do? I ‘m Alexis, and I am the curator of the site. Translation: I help the artists flesh out their ideas into a form that is translatable for the platform and help coordinate some of the logistics of running the blog. The age of information has in some way, shape, or form turned everyone into a curator of sorts. What do you think makes your perspective special? I have such a hard time with people calling me or themselves a curator just because I or they have a blog where they compile images. I’m a blogger, a writer, and perhaps a collector of images of works that I admire, and haven’t considered myself a curator until I started working on this project where there’s a concise voice and a vision that the artists are trying to achieve. Honestly, I don’t think my perspective is special. What I do know about it is that I am always honing it. Every day I try to absorb as much information as I can. Also, I have learned to trust my gut when it comes to art; if I am not immediately attracted, moved or affected then I move on. There is too much for me to waste my time on something that doesn’t have immediate draw or impact. Which is what I am loving about this first story on ArtSheSaid.com , each image and piece of story stand on their own and have the ability to immediately grab your attention. You’ve got exactly 10 minutes in your museum of choice before it burns to the ground. What do you save and why? Continue reading… The Louvre, “Winged Victory.” I remember seeing it with my mother in Paris and being entranced by its mystery and beauty. There is also a fun family story of my very Texan grandfather giving my mother and her sisters a whirlwind tour of the Louvre when they were young and they all say that is the only thing any of them remember. Imagine a man, who looks like Clint Eastwood, basically jogging through the Lourve with four girls in tow talking about art in a very Southern accent, it’s just too good. Imagine you found yourself in control of LA’s arts budget. Who would you throw your money at, and what would you commission them to do? I would do whatever I could to help save Watts Towers. They’re a national treasure and an amazing achievement in art that unfortunately is in a not so great part of town and are difficult to conserve and restore. People are trying, but it seems that there is more red tape than there should be. I remember coming to Los Angeles for a weekend and some friends of mine took me there and I was floored! It’s such an astounding site to take in. The love and patience that went into every part of this project really shows and that energy sticks with you for such a long time. Also, I would have Chris Burden build me a mini “Urban Lights” for the patch of grass in front of my apartment building. Taking your thoughts on the the over-proliferation of the title “curator” one step further, are there any legitimate curatorial voices out there that you respect, admire, or are particularly moved by? What is it about them that touches you? The Hammer always has amazing projects and I am always cursing the distance between me and the Tate Modern, where, if they let me, I would move in. Online, Fette and Jogging stand out to me. Everytime I see a new post I am always impressed with how well they are able to get their vision across. Always concise with a little bit of a twist that makes you think. It seems like there is a rising tide of interesting and relevant action happening in Los Angeles that hasn’t really existed since the ’80s. Places like NYC get by on long-established cred, but L.A. has had to struggle to regain that kind of ground. What made you set up shop there and are the rumors of an L.A. revival real or all hype? That’s actually why I moved here, to be a part of what I hope is an L.A. revival. Well, part of the reason. The other reason is that I am a huge weenie when it comes to weather so N.Y. and S.F. were out of the question for me. There are a lot of exciting things happening in Los Angeles all the time. The feeling that you can create something new, of yourself, of your work, is ingrained in our culture here. I know it doesn’t sound good, but I think that the freedom from a long-established art history in this town helps some people be more comfortable in their creativity. It’s different for everyone, some people like to be in NY so they can break down those barriers, others like to be here because the barriers weren’t there in the first place.

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Alexis Hyde

Artists band together in an altruistic exhibition to help close the American education gap The creative and influential group of artists and activists behind Re:Form School have a very specific goal—to transform public schools and help students flourish. Their desire to reinvent the American public education system has inspired countless hours and tireless determination to create a major group art exhibition, as well as a public awareness campaign. From 9-11 October 2010, the Re:Form School show will bring together the work of more than 150 artists including Gary Baseman, Michel Gondry, Simone Legno, Mike Perry, Phil Lumbang III, Ron English, Jermaine Rogers, Joe Ledbetter, Lisa Congdon, Sage Vaughn and Shepard Fairey. A myriad of school-themed pieces fill the exhibition space, a school building in Manhattan. Eric Anderson is busy filling a chalkboard with his images and words. Mixed-media artist Erik Otto decided to build a school bus created from reclaimed materials. With wheels he brought from San Francisco and driver’s seat is fashioned from a wooden school chair, Otto is creating a structure that can be rolled around during the show. Sonja Rasula from Unique LA is turning the principal’s office into a store filled with handmade items and unique crafts. The Re:Form School mission statement offers these words of hope: “We believe every child should be allowed the opportunity to shine and thrive. They should feel safe, challenged and excited to learn. They should be encouraged to bring creativity, imagination and innovation into our future.” Re:Form School is a REDU project aiming to find ways for rethinking, reforming, and rebuilding the education system. They hope this weekend’s art show will galvanize communities and encourage support for Urban Arts Partnership , Teach for America , Donors Choose and Rock the Vote . Ultimately Re:Form School hopes the show this weekend will motivate people to find teaching and mentoring opportunities as well and to donate their time and money and help transform the education system. Re:Form School is open to the public beginning 9 October 2010 through 11 October 2010 between the hours of 10am-6pm.

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Re:Form School

Emerging London talent Richie Culver’s poignant collage work Master of manipulation Richie Culver , with his arsenal of old photos and sharp-witted text, creates artwork with the one-two punch of a compelling soundbite that probes into both famous and more intimate historical moments. While the works function as pop homages too, his piece “Have You Ever Really Loved Anyone?”—an iconic image of Jesse Owens with those words plastered across—was the highlight of the May 2010 group show at the Tate Modern and suggests the dual forces at play. Culver, who had rockstar dreams of his own, turns his song titles and lyrics into paintings and collage, a selection of which is currently on view in his debut solo show ” Borstal Spots & Polka Dots .” Also included in the exhibit are a smattering of Culver’s own photographs he’s taken over the years. The black-and-white collection is not too different from his textual works though, with each perfectly composed image functioning as one sentence from a much larger conversation. A majority of his work seemingly revolves around love and relationships—a concept clearly demonstrated in the painting “I Loved You, You Just Couldn’t See It” but also in collage form. An image of a nun states “One fuck and she was anybody’s,” while the picture of a bride reads “aware of the ways of men.” Culver titles an alarming photo of a pouty-lipped woman with scars up her arm simply, “A love story.” With a show dedicated solely to his personal photos planned for late 2010 and a cover shot for the forthcoming I Blame Coco album Constant hitting shelves soon, Culver continues to explore concepts that speak to his roots. Reviewed on Le Cool as “A small, but moving show,” Culver’s “Borstal Spots & Polka Dots” runs through 26 September at London’s West 11 Gallery .

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Borstal Spots & Polka Dots

A bi-coastal gallery’s San Francisco location kicks off the fall season with optical illusions San Francisco’s Hosfelt Gallery kicks off the fall season with the reception of two new exhibits, “The Longest Day of the Year” by Anoka Faruqee and “Drawings” by Marietta Hoferer . Farquee’s show is her third solo exhibit at Hosfelt Gallery featuring a series of her new paintings that she executes freehand with a surprisingly accurate level of precision. Farquee mixes hundreds of colors that delicately blend together to form airbrush-like illusions, with some paintings having the fused effect of spilled paint. From afar, the paintings may be reminiscent of magic eye optical illusions, but up close viewers can see that the artist hand paints each pixel. The hand-drawn pixels in her paintings, either tripods or asterisk forms derived from Islamic tile geometry, comes from the artist’s Islamic heritage (she’s Bangladeshi-American). She states, however, that the meaning behind the pixels isn’t cultural but more so a lift from the traditional form of using rulers or compass to create established shapes. On describing her free-hand process she states, “I’m not interested in merely quoting, or ‘describing’ these forms, forever suspending them in their historical moment. I use them in the present tense for what they are and what they can become.” Farquee’s loosely-planned paintings start with no intended directions as she likes to decide on shapes and curves during the process of painting. The only form of consistency viewers will see is through her repetitive use of handmade pixels that she says represent metaphors for balance between control and accident. Also featured on exhibit, is “Drawings” by German artist Marietta Hoferer, who is currently based out of NYC. Similar to Farquee’s paintings, Hoferer’s paintings give off an optical illusion affect through varying shades of lighting she creates on her painting’s surfaces. While Hoferer’s paintings are more organized as they are planned with the preconceived structure of precise grids, she still welcomes chance, intuition, and even imperfection to her creative process.

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Anoka Faruqee and Marietta Hoferer Exhibit

Artists interpret the humble abode in one of LA’s new art collectives Tucked away in LA’s fascinating enclave of Highland Park is THIS , an up-and-coming gallery that has been steadily making a name for itself. This month features Home Sweet Home , a six-day exhibit showcasing the work of five young artists riffing on the idea of “home” and the domestic sphere. The varied personalities of the artists can be detected through the featured works on display that run the gamut from photography, to sketches, to watercolors. From a collection of creatives which include art professor Jon Cournoyer , madball sketch artist Michael Gigliotti, painter and musician Hannah Hooper , artist Vanessa Prager (whose solo work we have previously featured on Cool Hunting ), and photographer Annie Thornton ; each artist takes an interpretive swing at the concept of what “home sweet home” means to them. The opening reception for Home Sweet Home is scheduled for 7p.m. on 9 September 2010 and will run through 15 September 2010 at LA’s THIS gallery.

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Home Sweet Home

A group that campaigns against conceptual art claims 15 works by the artist Damien Hirst were inspired by other artists.

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Hirst works ‘inspired by others’