New downloadable pattern series on Néojaponisme. Every week, we'll release a new pattern that you can download and use. I imagine that at some point it'll be collected into a book + CD, but we'll wait and see...

BFF Mike Perry just started digging through the iPhoto archives and started a process blog... you know, cause I am sure he's not busy or anything.

TOKYO.TEN : EXHIBITION
2008 06.27 / FRI – 07.27 / SUN
GALLERY & SHOP “DO”
OPENING 06.27 / FRI / 7pm - 11pm
CLOSING + LIVE AFTER PARTY 07.24 / THU / 12am – 4am
URL : claska.com

This event is the W+K team’s first exhibition in Tokyo. It will showcase a visual remix of the 9 WKTLAB hybrid CD/DVD releases and feature the 42 artists who participated in the TEN project. It will also world premiere the latest WKTokyoLab music video for Jemapur’s Maledict Car, directed by Kosai Sekine.

The show is a pretty star-studded lineup of visual creators who work in Tokyo. The participating artists are:
01 ERICA DORN : JAPAN / UK
02 TAKAGI MASAKATSU : JAPAN
03 CHRISTOPHER HUTCHINSON : USA / JAPAN
04 KUSTAA SAKSI : FINLAND / NETHERLANDS
05 KENTARO KOBUKE : JAPAN / UK
06 ELECROTNIK : JAPAN
07 FIEL VALDEZ + Peter Vattanatham : UNITED STATES
08 EDWIN USHIRO : JAPAN / USA
09 SHANE LESTER : USA / JAPAN
10 FREK / OUTSIGN LAB : HONG KONG
11 IAN LYNAM : USA / JAPAN
12 PHUNK STUDIO : SINGAPORE
13 KAZUFUMI KIMURA / VJ GEC : JAPAN
14 EARL BURNLEY JR. a.k.a. JUS REP : UNITED STATES
15 FIEL VALDEZ + PETER VATTANATHAM : UNITED STATES
16 ZONGY : BELGIUM / USA / JAPAN
17 FURI FURI COMPANY : JAPAN
18 PAUL HWANG / NANOSPORE : UNITED STATES
19 DRISCOLL REID : USA / JAPAN
20 AGENCY COLLECTIVE : UNITED STATES
21 LUIS SANCHIS : SPAIN / USA
22 TOSHIKO KIMURA : JAPAN
23 WOOG : HONG KONG / USA / JAPAN
24 KAMIKAZEDOUGA : JAPAN
25 MOTOKO : JAPAN
26 BURACO DE BALA : BRAZIL　
27 TORU NAGAHAMA : JAPAN / UK
28 GENKI ITO JAPAN
29 ALEKSANDRA DOMANOVIć : SLOVENIJA / GERMANY
30 MAREK OKON : CANADA / JAPAN
31 TADAOMI SHIBUYA : JAPAN
32 MAHARO : JAPAN
33 KAMI : JAPAN
34 SASU: JAPAN
35 TATSUYA YAMADA : JAPAN
36 SUN AN : USA / KOREA
37 TADAHIRO GUNJI : JAPAN
38 SEONGHYUN KIM : SOUTH KOREA
39 THE_GROOP : UNITED STATES
40 SOLOBONGNU-SENSEI : JAPAN
41 KOSAI SEKINE : JAPAN
42 +CRUZ : PHILIPPINES / USA / JAPAN

The exhibition is in celebration of W+K’s new book and dvd release. This is a project set up so that W+K Tokyo LAB, in collaboration with all the artists with can express a range of “POINTS” (“点（TEN）” in Japanese) relating to Tokyo. A point is a moment in time, a dot, a location, and a reason for doing something. What’s the “point” or mark that makes Tokyo different? A point of view, a physical location, a point or moment in time. What do you think of when you think of “Tokyo”? What makes Tokyo special?

DVD　(total recording time 70 minutes）
The greatest hits of W+K Tokyo Lab’s artists, including Hifana, Afra, Jemapur, and Takagi Masakatsu.

Come party it up and check out the work!

Also, check out the process blog that catalogs the making of the book.

Le graphiste américain Mark Owens vient de réaliser sa première série de tshirt pour Sixpack France. Le travail de Mark Owens est inspiré par l'architecture, Godard, l'urbanisme et le post punk.

I must say that the Sixpack shirts are very very nice -- much better than 2K -- contrast stitching, packed in a plastic bag, folded with a little piece of tissue paper -- the whole deal. The dollar = weak. The Euro = strong.

Savoir Savoir Savoir.

Tonight: A celebration of ten years of LOST, L.A.'s primero graffiti magazine, celebrating the anniversary and the release of the new LOST book. 

The book contains highlights of the past decade editor/designer EyeOne has spent documenting LA writing. Includes imagery by Atlas (if you haven't caught the documentary on his work, watch it now!), Pale, Cab, Haeler, and more. Screenprinted board covers, numbered limited edition of 2000.

Even if you are not a graffiti fan per se, the LOSt book is a musthave for folks interested in Angeleno culture. More about LOST here. 

LOST is a picture-perfect example of designer as author. 

CalArts' graduating graphic design MFA class  is selling sets of the visiting artist posters on ebay. There are a few sets of all 24 posters and several sets of 6. The auctions will be going up throughout the week, so check back often.

They are selling them to raise money for a class trip and for the AIGA student group.

Own a piece of history. 

Stephen Kelleher (AKA Frankenstyles) just updated his portfolio. The screenprint above is also for sale. 

Check out the latest issue of The Artist's Guide. Looks rad!
"The Artist's Guide is a topic-driven art journal produced
by Matt Cassity and Sam Spratlin. "

Polish Illustrator, Jan Kallwejt recently updated his site with a few new things.

Canadian-based Something Secret just published their latest collaborative zine, Totally Rad. The 76-page rag was curated by Greg Durrell and Errol Richardson and is limited to only 200 copies!

The States is an exploration in form where illustrator Frank Chimero takes each of the states in the US and turns it into something. Childish? Yes. Awesomely fun? Definitely.

Through 20 interviews with 29 key figures in the Tokyo art world and 6 essays by art specialists, Art Space Tokyo fleshes out a thorough exploration of the Tokyo art world and the issues that revolve around these spaces.

The guide is lavishly ornamented with over 50 beautiful pen and ink illustrations by Nobumasa Takahashi, bringing readers intimately close to the voices and spaces within.

- Japan's position within the rise of the Asian art scene
- Takashi Murakami and the relationship between contemporary art and manga/anime
changes in the Ginza area's position in the Tokyo art world
- an account of connecting with the Tokyo art world as a foreign curator
- converting subway luggage lockers into galleries
- 100 artists renovating a 160 year old warehouse
- contemporary Japanese architecture and urban regeneration in Tokyo
- the current state of Japanese art publishing and art criticism
- international art fairs in Tokyo
- the collecting of artwork and the history of Japanese auction houses
- art and performance in Tokyo's public spaces
- graffiti in Tokyo

This month over at Néojaponisme: a micro/macro look at Harajuku's place in the fashion landscape globally and locally; two analyses of what it really means to be an otaku; and Tokyo's first contemporary art fair. All this and our editor-in-chief is also having a kid!

A group art show celebrating one year of The Family Bookstore. Opening Feb 28, 8pm - March 31The show includes a range of mediums: from oil paintings by Dave Eggers, music videos by Mike Mills for Barr, etchings by Ashley Macomber, photography by Will Oldham, water-colours by Kyle Field, drawings by Geoff Mcfetridge, sign art by Aaron Rose, and embroideries by Vanessa Davis. Original works by: Geoff Mcfetridge, Aaron Rose, Will Oldham, Joanne Oldham, Dave Eggers, Paper Rad, Ian Svenonius, Mike Mills, Cheryl Dunn, Shary Boyle, Phil Elverum, Ashley Macomber, Sammy Harkham, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Simon Evans / Sarah Lannan, Matt Brinkman, Lori D, Ron Rege Jr, Kyle Field, Will Sweeney, Trinie Dalton, Sumi Ink Club, Cayce Cole, Mudboy, CF, Vanessa Davis. (description taken from here) - Come out support Family tonight, one of the most amazing bookstores on the planet.

Hot on the heels of Geoff & Ed's Redcat show comes the launch of GM's hand silk-screened company: Pottok.
If you are wealthy enough to own a home or have a rad landlord, the line launches tomorrow- Feb 28 - at Walnut Wallpaper in LA.