In his first solo New York exhibition, The Only Living Boy in New York (running through January 23 at Sloan Fine Art), Dutch pop-surrealist Chris Berens offers a Hieronymus Bosch meets Mark Ryden-esque vision of chimerical life bubbling up from the whitewashed corpse of a frozen metropolis. With a defamiliarized post-apocalyptic Manhattan as the predominant backdrop, the multifarious creatures and images that people Berens’ interiority are granted free reign to float, morph, and intermingle as they please. Inspired by the dreams that have lived within him since childhood, Berens has worked assiduously over the course of his life to hone his technical skills to the extent that they can capture these visions in totality.

The resulting works appear as if Berens clipped the tethers that keep these soft-focus, protean phantasms safely moored within the confines of his head in order to translate them in full. Disparate incohesive elements and dream-like contradictions in meaning congeal gracefully into meaningful visions – for example, a work entitled Sunset Blvd (above) pictures what appears to be the Flatiron building next to an interior and exterior that simultaneously exist in the same space. Berens maintains that his pieces still do not come close to encapsulating everything that he envisions despite their almost photorealistic detail. Although the works appear digitally or photographically manipulated, Berens creates everything by hand – utilizing a complex and pain-staking process that he himself developed. The resulting pieces are what happens when imagination prevails over materialism and “Manhattan” is joyously overrun by a cavalcade of ball-shaped hybrid creatures that float past like cloud puffs, snow globes, sailing ships, pink balloons, and other special guests.  Click “Read More” for more images.

Partners & Spade is a shop/gallery/studio space located at 40 Great Jones St. in Manhattan that houses a smörgåsbord of curios, objets d’art, eccentric bric-a-brac and enough whimsy to make you feel like you’ve stepped into the living room of a fiercely cool grandparent’s house. Founded in 2008 by art lovers Andy Spade (the founder of Kate Spade and Jack Spade) and Anthony Sperduti (a former advertising creative director) the “conceptual and experiential” storefront is a must-visit for anyone with a glint in their eye and an affinity for beautiful oddities. The space, freshly re-installed for November and December, features sights motley as: a Will Cotton sculpture of piled up pastel-frosted cakes; a tall garden of succulents, vintage microphone stands, and African sculptures; Rene Ricard paintings; records that run the gamut from France Gall to Soiled Mattress and the Springs; tattered “Ghost Ships” by Robert Hawkins; vintage oil cans, rare Japanese erotica from Irving Zucker Art Books; custom-made axes (and an axe rack) by Peter Buchanan Smith’s Best Made Co… and that’s not even scratching the surface. When asked where Partners & Spade procures their wares the reply was – somewhat cryptically – “Literally everywhere.”

Although many of the featured works are by well-established artists (i.e. Will Cotton, Rene Ricard, Gordon Hull,) the space also seeks to feature works by artists who are young in age and career. A glass case of pottery is primarily the work of emerging artists Devin Dougherty, Victoria Morris, Heather Levine, and Ian McDonald. Even ten-year-old artist Marika Thunders has had her t-shirts featured in-store.  

For the wee artists and budding aficionados Partners & Spade offers monthly (and free) Avant-Garde Preschool classes where kids can learn about art – show & tell style – from the masters. Other cool things the store has to offer are a collection of “Backdated Confidence Trophies” that you can engrave with your name (fake it until you make it style), drawers of individual found photographs grouped into categories like “People with Dogs,” and a collection of Spade/Sperduti curated found photography booklets with titles like “The One That Didn’t Get Away,” “Ethyl,” and “Accidental Twins.”

This November Will Cotton (whose celestial Rococo visions are like Jean-Honore Fragonard meets Alberto Vargas meets Candy Land) will be baking an assortment of treats in-store on Sundays that will be available for artistic (or regular) consumption.

Ernest Greene a.k.a Washed Out is poised at the precipice of being the next huge thing in electro-pop. On his bedroom-hatched debut EP Life of Leisure, recently released by Mexican Summer, 26-year-old Georgia native Greene delivers an acid-washed, sun-stroked pastiche of 80’s synth-pop, Caribbean percussion, post-punk guitar wails, and a whole slew of other genre tropes that blend together into a seamless, chilled-out haze. Greene graciously answered some questions via e-mail for Dossier about his sound, his evolution, his idols, and why his music isn’t “bedroom music” per se.

Tell me a little bit about your evolution as an artist. What were some of the early childhood influences that ignited your interest in art and music? What were the influences that kept you making music?

I was forced into piano lessons as a young child, and then I picked up the guitar when I discovered Nirvana. It was never anything serious — I was probably more fascinated with the idea of being a musician or an artist. I played sports growing up so I was probably more interested in that. It wasn’t until college that I started writing seriously. I’ve been lucky to meet some amazingly creative people that have influenced my approach to life. I think of music as simply one small portion of that approach.

Life of Leisure is so interesting because it sounds nostalgic (specifically for the 80s) but there are no immediate artists that I can pinpoint from the 80s or ever that have made music that sounds quite like yours. Your sound is like a false memory of a retro music wave that never really existed. Are you consciously channeling a specific sound or era in your music?

That “false memory” line is exactly right. I don’t own many records from the 80s and I feel like I have a very naive understanding of the music of that era. I feel like my generation has a very strange relationship to 80s pop music. I grew up in the 80s so I heard all of the “hits” growing up, but the first stuff that I took seriously was the grunge music of the 90s (that was obviously created as a reaction to what was happening the decade before.) As a result, 80s pop was viewed as camp at best.

That view has slowly been changing: 80s-influenced music is starting to sound “fresh,” but again, there is still a strange tension. I write with an idea in mind of what the 80s “sounded” like but – in most cases – the end result is something completely skewed.  

What inspires you? Make a list.

1. The Internet – living in a small town means experiencing a lot of culture through the www…
2. The Library – same as above.
3. The Radio – I like to scan and will listen to pretty much everything. The radio constantly gives me ideas for arranging pop songs.
4. Photography – see below
5. New Places – I recently moved to Macon, GA. I really enjoy the energy that accompanies a new place.

Who are your top five favorite artists? Of any medium.

At the moment:
1. William Eggleston – A little before my time, but he closely captures my “idea” of where I’m from. I’ve been looking at his photos on a daily basis.
2. Peter Sutherland – In my opinion a more modern version of Eggleston with a darker sense of humor. He also captures rural life pretty well.
3. Chaz Bundick – A close friend and probably the most creative guy I know. He is always blowing me away with his music, design, art.
4. David A. Stewart – I happened to stumble across some of his production credits and have been blown away listening since.
5. Chad VanGaalen – Makes me feel incredibly lazy. His animations and music are great and really complimentary.

What is your songwriting process like?

I try to keep it as mindless as possible – I sit down at the computer and start working. It is mostly an exercise in trial and error. Normally the most interesting things happen by chance. Some songs take one hour to finish, others take a week. The best songs seem to come very naturally.

Do you collect anything?

I’ve recently started collecting photography books, which is a shame because I’m really broke right now.

What were the major musical influences on Life of Leisure?

Gorilla vs. Bear-type lo-fi rock and 80′s pop in general…

There are so many genres smashed and pieced together again mosaically in your songs. Would you say that that’s a fair assessment? That you smash genres and piece them back together again?

I’ve jumped around a lot stylistically. I started out making sample-based hip-hop instrumentals and I’ve covered a lot of ground since then. Whenever I move to a new genre obsession I feel like I carry along the influence of the previous obsessions. But there is nothing deliberate about it – it’s all pretty unconscious.

How do you want your music to make people feel? What types of environments and spaces do you think it accommodates itself to?

The music was written to be “feel-good” music. Most of everything on Life of Leisure is in a major key. The lyrics are meant to be uplifting. I wrote them during a sort of depressing time of my life, so they were meant to help me feel better…

I think solo listening is best (I can’t imagine people partying to it). Perhaps riding in a car with the windows down on a nice day.

Your music has a lot of bedroom energy. Respond to that.

Everything was written in the bedroom where I grew up in my parent’s house so that comes with no surprise. Normally, “bedroom” music means headphone music but I think the music responds best to being played in an open room.

How do you think Washed Out fits in historically? Do you know any guys or girls who are doing things similar to what you are doing in terms of sound? Do you stand alone? What would you describe your sound as?

I’ve read a number of comparisons with guys like Neon Indian and Memory Tapes. I feel closest to Toro Y Moi just because I know him personally and understand that we approach songwriting the same way with similar influences.

What’s in the future for Washed Out?

Hopefully more hit songs… I haven’t sat down to write in over a month so I’m really looking forward to peace and quiet. Normally my best work comes after a long break.

Danish poet and film director Jørgen Leth’s 1969 short film The Perfect Human.

London dreampop quartet The Clientele’s new LP Bonfires on the Heath is a soft focus, slow shutter patchwork of autumn-hued dreamscapes and wood-scented October sunsets. Their first LP since 2007’s Suburban Light, Bonfires on the Heath is teeming with spectres, phantom choirs, disconnected voices in fields, haunted nights, and psychedelic sonic flourishes. According to lead singer/songwriter Alasdair MacLean the album is “about watching yourself disappear,” – inspired by an incident where LSD was slipped into MacLean’s drink and he subsequently experienced dissociative feelings in a South London park. The mood of the album is warm yet melancholic, pastoral yet elegant. It is hazy, painterly and illuminated by dusty slats of light. According to MacLean, The Clientele “won’t play a folk song, we’ll play a Peter Blake painting of a folk song.”

MacLean’s gossamer soft voice paired with the plaintive strings, reverberating guitar, honey-warm brass fanfares, and elegant piano solos culminate in the signature ethereal 60’s pop sounds that have come to define The Clientele over the course of their decade-long recording career. Despite no drastic stylistic departures, Bonfires on the Heath is easily the band’s most gorgeous and masterful work to date (and perhaps their last.) There are no highlights. No filler. Each song is woven and browned to perfection. The lyrics are romantic and haunted. On “Harvest Time,” like some surrealist Coleridge poem “Bats from the eaves go shivering by/Scarecrows watch the verges of light/I hear a choir on the heath at night/But no one’s there.” On the psychedelic high-energy rocker “Sketch” MacLean whispers off 25 seemingly unrelated words that ultimately and uncannily define the album:Bandstand, Dummy, Bells, Sheaves, Glass, Canary, Diorama, Cutlery, Abridgement, Spectre, Taxonomy, Moors, Construct, Sunlight, Horse, Transience, Cedar, Phenomena, Watcher, Ribbon, Bonfire, System, Heath, Sketch, (and once again) Bandstand.

Bonfires on the Heath was released on October 6 by Merge Records. Click “Read More” to hear “Harvest Time.”

Italian sex pot Mina Mazzini performing the molto sensuale song “L’Importante e Finire” in 1975.