Art | Cool Material

Banksy’s Holywell Row Happy Choppers Is Up for Auction

John A. Paradiso — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 14:03:00 +0000

In the bustling streets of Shoreditch, London, Banksy’s Holywell Row Happy Choppers once graced the side of a nondescript office building in 2006. The artwork, showcasing a whimsical fleet of Apache helicopters adorned with pink bows, drew crowds and intrigue, yet its presence was short-lived. Triggering the security light incessantly, the mural was eventually painted […]

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Herman Miller 2024 Archival Poster Designs

John A. Paradiso — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 14:21:00 +0000

Herman Miller, renowned for its innovation in design and furniture, is taking us on a journey back in time with their latest release. Revisiting the graphic treasures of the ’70s and ’80s, the company has resurrected a selection of posters that celebrate its rich heritage in design. This season’s lineup features five distinct designs, each […]

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Banksy’s Limited “Agile of War” Screenprints Are for Sale

Ben Dahl — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 15:23:09 +0000

Iconic and infamous artist Banksy is dropping 50 new unique screen prints of his work titled “FRAGILE”, “AGILE” or “LEGACY OF WAR” depending on the source. The important bit–outside the fact that it’s a legit Banksy with proper provenance you can hang at home for less than $10k–is that each one of the 50 rare […]

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Flemish Renaissance Superheroes

Mike Newman — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 18:00:17 +0000

The 16th century was a time of great art forming from the paint brushes of Dutch and Flemish artists. Their subjects, however, weren’t quite as interesting as modern-day superheroes. Artist Sacha Goldberger fixed that with his series of clever portraits. The 51-piece collection includes superheroes, Star Wars characters and others depicted as if they posed […]

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This Light Bridge Installation Looks Straight Out of a Sci-Fi Movie

Mike Newman — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 15:00:27 +0000

Phillip K. Smith’s installations are unlike anything else out there. Ever since we saw “Lucid Stead,” a mirrored abode he built in 2013, we knew we were going to love everything Smith concocts. That holds true with his latest, The Detroit Skybridge project. Smith turned the pedestrian overpass into something that looks like it was […]

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8 Pocket Knives Almost Too Beautiful to Use

Ben Dahl — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 15:30:11 +0000

When it comes to the pocket knife you choose to use on a regular basis, you have options. Do you want something cheap? Do you want something functional? Do you want something attractive? Do you want something that blends all of those options while still being an invaluable part of your EDC? Or do you […]

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The 9 Most Interesting Metro Cards Ever Released

Maxwell Barna — Tue, 15 May 2018 15:40:33 +0000

New York City is one of the most art-influenced and art-influencing places in the entire world. Aside from being packed with museums, art houses, theaters, galleries, and music venues, it’s the kind of city whose streets ooze with creativity—from Subway platform bands and back-alley b-boy crews, to street art galore and more fashion forwardness on […]

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‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ Immersive Art Exhibit

Mike Newman — Tue, 17 Apr 2018 19:20:44 +0000

Fifty years ago, one of the most compelling, original, and genre-defining sci-fi movies of all time hit theaters. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey, how would you like to step inside the penultimate scene? That’s right, for a limited time (4/8/18–5/28/18) the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in D.C. is home […]

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A Design Studio Came Up With a Clever Way to Redo a Restaurant’s Bathroom Without Changing Its Old Tiles

Mike Newman — Thu, 15 Mar 2018 19:03:14 +0000

Gyva Grafika is a design studio in Kaunas, Lithuania, that was tasked with redesigning the bathroom inside Galeria Urbana, a restaurant also in the city of Kaunas. The only stipulation? They needed to keep the old tiles already on the walls of the stall. The studio came up with a clever solution, deciding to photograph […]

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Own a Door From a Famous Artist’s Home at the Chelsea Hotel

Ben Dahl — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 14:40:48 +0000

About a decade ago, the iconic Chelsea Hotel (aka Hotel Chelsea or just The Chelsea) that artists, authors and musicians ranging from Andy Warhol and Bob Marley to Jack Kerouac and Jackson Pollack called home closed for renovations. This facelift is significant not just because it’s going to be a fantastic new venue in the […]

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This Book Charts the Colors of the Natural World

Mike Newman — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 15:30:30 +0000

Steel Gray. Arterial Blood Red. Sap Green. These are just a few of the descriptions you’ll find in Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours, a book first published in 1814 and set to make a stunning return to shelves. The book was originally produced for scientists, naturalists, and anyone undertaking an artistic endeavor who needed to conjure up […]

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What’s Happening Outside the Frames of Iconic Album Covers?

Mike Newman — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 18:30:06 +0000

That Instagram post of the woman doing some insane yoga pose in an angelic field filled with daisies? Yeah, it was probably cropped so you couldn’t see the chaos going on around her, the child waiting for her mom to finish taking the picture and the trashcan overflowing with McDonald’s. Truth is, it happens a […]

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This Exhibit Highlights Chopstick Sleeves Left Behind at Restaurants

Mike Newman — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 17:29:30 +0000

If you’re like us, when you leave a Japanese restaurant, the sleeve your chopsticks came looks like shitty origami. Maybe it’s because we’re fidgety, but we can’t help but mess with that piece of paper. Turns out we’re not the only ones. Japanese Tip is an exhibition that includes over 8,000 chopstick wrappers left behind […]

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A Bridge in Sweden Looks Like It Was Built from LEGO Bricks

Mike Newman — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 14:55:26 +0000

Christo Guelov is an artist from Madrid who must have played with LEGO blocks when he was younger. Why? Well his latest installation looks like a real-life version of a toy bridge we must have built 100 times when we were kids. As part of the “Let’s Color Gothenburg” project, Guelov designed the Älvsborgsbron bridge, […]

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A Town in Iceland Made an Optical Illusion Crosswalk to Slow Traffic

Mike Newman — Wed, 25 Oct 2017 16:45:45 +0000

We’re turning into those angry old men who shake their fists at cars flying by these days. Okay, not all the time, we love speed as much as the next guy, but specifically when there’s a crosswalk present. We’re all for ways to get people to slow down at such a point so they don’t […]

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11 Museums in the U.S. That You Need to Visit at Least Once

Dillon McLaughlin — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 15:30:04 +0000

Usually we think of museums as stuffy places old people go to so they can see stuff their parents used. But they’re not all like that. There are plenty of museums that cater to your interests, which sounds like an over generalization until you realize how many museums there are. For this list, we tried […]

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