In yet another example of iPad doing it better (Alice in Wonderland app, anyone?), programmer Petros Vrellis has turned Van Gogh’s Starry Night into an interactive, whimsical thrill of an iPad app for art nerds, allowing users to create swirls within swirls inside the original (almost like blowing bubbles). For $2 on iTunes.

It seems that one indiscriminate apartment building in San Francisco has produced a growth on its side! Brooklyn artist Mark Reigelman (with the help of architect Jenny Chapman and engineer Paul Endres) designed a tiny cabin (uninhabited at the moment) that sits on the side of building in the purpose of “seeks out areas of unclaimed territory for establishing a new home front in the remaining voids of San Francisco, California”, titled Manifest Destiny!

via Boing Boing

Entering Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum on the weekend is like entering the depths of a Metallica concert; throngs of sweaty New Yorkers packed in between the corners of the room looked up at the romantic/ gothic figures that were sometimes more Silence of the Lambs than Isabella Blow. Even so, the show is masterfully curated, definitely one of the best exhibits of the year, anywhere. The exhibit ends August 7th.

I saw these leave cuttings on one of my favorite blogs Laughing Squid and fell in love with the delicate engravings. Created by Lorenzo Duran, using an technique inspired by Asian paper cutting methods. There is something so romantic and intimate about these tiny, ephemeral feeling scenes. 

Filed Under: Art As Strong As Hercules 

A group of New York artists operating under the name Store Buyout Project have created an unusual pop art project in which they bought out the entire stock of a bodega—we’re talking every gum and every beer—and transported it to a gallery where it is being sold as “pop art.” The artists chose, 

Hercules’ Fancy Grocery, a small bodega specializing in international beer and run by one of West Village’s favorite personalities, Hercules. Having befriended Hercules after years of visiting his store, Jody learned that his 40-year plus business was at risk of shutting down by the end of the month.

In addition to the landslide of money Hercules got that day (you gotta assume that the next day was strange for him huh?) the artists are giving part of the gallery’s sales (or resale of items like an upside down Coke) to Hercules as well.

It should be no surprise to you that the main man behind the execution of this art event is Kyle MacDonald, the dude that started trading a red paper clip and ended up with a house. Though personally, the “art” created by this project falls flat, I do like the idea and sentiment behind it.

I know that rain brings May flowers and all, but this wet day all I can do is wish that the sun was hot and bright and that shorts and tropical drinks were the only solution to a glaring heat.  I’m settled back into New York after months of travel and there seem to be a million and one things I want to do tonight, but the clouded over sky and prospect of lugging an umbrella is making me second guess my social instincts. Here are the things I will (try to) do on this wet day and New York and I suggest that you join me.

The beautiful and talented Anni Rossi is having her album release show tonight at Pianos. If you can’t make it tonight because the rain has you trapped in bed with hot tea,  give her a listen and check her out at a later date.

Find more Anni Rossi songs at Myspace Music

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When talking to marketers I can’t stress user participation enough. People want to buy, support brands and products that they feel they’re a part of creating. And now we’re seeing that Gen Y is increasingly drawn to art that is interactive. 

The generation that grew up with Children’s Museums is not satisfied with looking at something pinned up on a white wall and silently pondering. As a result we’re seeing projects like Candy Chang’s “Before I Die” public installment in New Orleans. Candy created a chalk wall in New Orleans where passersby were encouraged to finish the sentence “Before I die…”

Every time the wall is filled, every response is documented for the upcoming book and then the entire board is washed with water and the process starts over. Sadly, the house was recently bought and the project will have to come down— but for the record the buyers were into it. The wall has been taken down but Chang plans to install more over New Orleans and the rest of America.