Sports Illustrated has revealed its 2013 Swimsuit Issue cover, which features 20-year-old model and untalented car-washer Kate Upton (again!) braving the harsh Antarctic tundra in an open white parka and hopefully fleece-lined bikini bottoms. See the full, absurdly booby image (NSFW, BUT WHY ARE YOU STILL AT WORK?) after the break. READ FULL STORY »
Photographer Annie Leibovitz took the time to shoot New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow for the upcoming issue of Vogue. Alas, it was a disappointment.
Hear me out, PopWatchers. Leibovitz is a wonderful photographer, but when you see her name, what do you think of? Nudity. After the Miley Cyrus debacle, I’ve come to expect lots of skin in any and all Leibovitz photographs. And not just nakedness, but shocking nakedness. With Tebow — the Christian crusader and potentially Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend — and Leibovitz, Vogue had the perfect chance to stage the most epic controversial nude pictures ever (well, aside from these and these) and they wasted it. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Mel Evans/AP
50 years ago, Andy Warhol launched his fine art career with an exhibition featuring his iconic Campbell’s Soup Cans canvases. Now the canning giant is commemorating Warhol’s work — and trying to revitalize its own brand — by releasing special edition cans of condensed tomato soup that sport colorful, Warhol-print-inspired labels.
This is the company’s third flirtation with pop art — as the AP writes, Warhol-inspired cans were previously sold in small quantities in both 2006, at New York City department store Barney’s, and in 2004, at Pittsburgh-based supermarket Giant Eagle. (Warhol grew up in the Steel City, as did yours truly. Let’s go, Bucs!)
Ironically enough, Campbell is replacing the label Warhol painted in order to celebrate the artist’s work. Still, the Andy-inspired cans — Candies? No, that’s stupid — are undeniably eye-catching. Their bright color scheme and stylized Warhol quotes (“In the future, everybody will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” etc.) should help them stand out on the shelves at Target, where they’ll be sold starting Sunday.
Image Credit: Cory Allen/Splash News
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Or something.
An American artist who goes by the name XVALA claims to have nabbed Justin Bieber’s trash can and a milk crate from Facebook’s cafeteria to create a BieberBot. “Justin Bieber’s profile is a spawn of social media and cloning him would make his status widely accessible to the public,” said XVALA. The gallery that represents XVALA said: “[It is] partially inspired by the YouTube conception of the pop star and the social media phenomenon that has ultimately transmuted cultures globally.” See a more disturbing image below: READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
What’s left to say about James Franco, actor, writer, obsessive degree collector, and secret lover of Japanese body pillows? Not much — which is why when I read Franco’s latest missive in the Huffington Post, I was compelled to just let the actor speak for himself.
Whether you roll your eyes at Franco’s “celebrity deconstructing celebrity” schtick or you’re amused by it, you’ve got to admit the guy has a signature style — even if younger, less pretentious multihyphenates like Joseph Gordon-Levitt are poised to usurp his throne. So until that day comes, let’s just enjoy Franco being Franco, as exemplified in these seven Franctastic quotes from a letter the actor wrote to one of his “writer friends”:
Contemplative Franco
“I am sitting poolside at the top of the SoHo House in New York. The weather is nice, things are going well, and I suppose I have a good life.”
Name-dropping Franco
“During my time there [at Warren Wilson College], Alan Shapiro and Alan Williamson helped me reshape the manuscript a bit, and then Tony Hoagland and Frank Bidart did a lot of heavy editing with me after I got back to New York.”
Where’s the art? I’m stumped.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this “living fairy tale” exhibit (see video below) at the National Art Museum of Ukraine, at which any male suitor above the age of 18 may kiss a young painted lady who’s pretending to be asleep. If she opens her eyes, they must get married. This is real! Look at her ear doilies! It’s all so bizarre and disease-y — but after settling in for some Monday night cable, I had to ask: Is it worse than Gallery Girls on Bravo? READ FULL STORY »
Retirees have to find a way to keep busy. Some take up knitting; others make multi-million dollar explosion-fests. Cecilia Giménez of Borja, Spain, has a different hobby: She spent hours attempting to restore a water damaged, century-old fresco of Jesus in Borja’s Santuario de la Misericordia church. Giménez’s finished product has inspired headlines and a flurry of tourist activity — but not for the reasons the artist would hope. Take it away, Today!
Image Credit: Jason Mecier
Oh, there’s the beef.
Mosaic artist Jason Mecier has crafted a tasty likeness of Barack Obama that gives Shepard Fairey‘s iconic poster a run for its money. Mecier’s take is made entirely of Jack Link’s beef jerky; the artist made a matching picture of Obama’s presumptive opponent Mitt Romney as well. (Paul Ryan, presumably, is too handsome for the jerky treatment.)
Mecier told EW this afternoon that he began the process by sorting various flavors of Jack Link’s into different color groups — light brown, red, and dark brown. He dried the jerky in bins lined with paper towels for about three weeks, then drew an outline for each portrait and got to work fitting pieces together “like a jigsaw puzzle.” Altogether, the project took around 100 hours (and 100 bags of jerky) to complete.
Image Credit: Aled Lewis
Who’s that knocking at L.A.-based Gallery 1988′s door? Why, it’s Walter White — and he’s brought a slew of Breaking Bad-inspired art along with him.
Gallery 1988 specializes in pop culture-themed artwork; past shows include “Excuuuuuuse Meeeeeeeee,” a tribute to Steve Martin at its Venice branch, and “There’s Always Money in the Banana Stand,” an exhibition of art celebrating Arrested Development at its space in Melrose. The gallery’s latest is presented by Breaking Gifs, a site run by NTSF:SD:SUV star (and Breaking Bad super fan) Paul Scheer. And though the exhibit has a straightforward title — “The Breaking Bad Art Project” — its components are anything but uncreative.
Check out a sampling of the exhibit’s posters and pieces below, and visit the gallery’s site to see every piece of art in the show. You might even be able to purchase something to make your meth lab feel a little more homey– though most of the “Art Project”‘s pieces are already sold out.
I’ve found my new favorite show to hate-watch (well, I love it but you will definitely maybe hate it): Gallery Girls on Bravo. This grotesque reality TV canvas is like a post-surrealist hybrid of The Hills and Girls — priced at $0 for all you art collectors! — that should probably just be called Bitches. It stars six young snots and one hardworking woman from Long Island who live and “work” in NYC and Brooklyn, which the show treats like a separate country.
Have I lost you yet, or do the two melting clocks in the desert (pictured) have you intrigued? READ FULL STORY »
