Watermelon Mouse was created by Oliver Clark and is a product of his complex, insightful, inspired brain. Tune in regularly for more installments.

London’s perennially popular Frieze Art Fair descended on New York City for the first time last week with a roar, bringing with it Frieze’s famous custom-designed tent (this iteration designed by Brooklyn-based SO-IL), and unique programming around the fair’s temporary home on Randall’s Island. The Frieze Art Fair, organized by the inimitable duo Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, has for the past 11 years been exclusively a London affair—fortunately for New Yorkers and other art lovers, the Frieze empire’s expansion across the pond promises to be a positive influence on the New York art world by invigorating the gallery scene and applying some needed pressure on the staid Armory Show to step up its game.

Above left: Ben Schmacher at Bortolami. Courtesy of Bortolami Gallery. Right: Paulina Olowska at Galeria Foksa. Photograph by Pip Deely.

Justin Matherly. “Every body moves, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly (Dedicate to everyone).” Courtesy of Bureau.

Left: Virginia Overton. “Untitled (mirrors for Randall’s Island)”. Commissioned and produced by Frieze Projects New York. Photograph by Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze. Right: Artist Uri Aran and curator Kalika Farmer.  Photograph by Pip Deely.

Uri Aran. “Untitled, (Ticket Shack).” Commissioned and produced by Frieze Projects New York. Photograph by Linda Nylind, Courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze.

Left: Henry Codax (a collaboration between Jacob Kassay and Olivier Mosset). “Untitled (Purple). ” Courtesy of Martos Gallery. Right: Ryan McGinley. “Marmoset (Horizon Blue).” Courtesy of Team Gallery, New York.

Leif Ritchey. “Green Tangerine. ” Courtesy of the journal gallery.

Left: David Adamo at Untitled Gallery (NADA fair). Photograph by Pip Deely. Right: Transcendental black metal band Liturgy at Essex Street gallery. Photograph by Pip Deely.

Josh Slater is an artist known for his trippy, psychedelic line drawings of complex geometric shapes. His references combine science fiction and other futuristic influences with natural wonders of the world ike moss and other stuff like that. His latest thing is taking his graphic skills off of the page and making multi-dimensional videos, sculptures and interactive art, which includes building crazy (big enough to walk through) structures for videos with bands like MGMT. Over here at Dossier, we are super fans. We featured an interview with Josh in Issue #7 and partnered up with him for our SmartCar mural on Spring Street. This is his latest video, called Forever Vision. Sit back, chill out and enjoy.

Three girls, one Polaroid camera and stickers by the bucketload – that’s how these pictures came about. It’s 2012 and it’s all about being relevant in this Tumblr obsessed generation. Posting and reblogging are the order of the day. We eat LOLcats for breakfast. Yet, sometimes you just want to get your hands dirty. Enter DIY scrapbooking.

We’re all from Cape Town and yes, this is Africa baby; now living is Paris. Lea Colombo is a young photographer who is not afraid to try out kooky ideas. Her website showcases a wide selection of her work, from forays into fast food joints and lover boys, to hot girls hanging out of vintage cars. She’s got that versatility thing down to a tee.

Fani is the dopest model, you kind of don’t want her to do anything but rather just be. The photos were shot in her house which is filled with weird and wacky thing – one suspects they are hoarders. Naturally her dad owns a record store, Mabu Vinyl, so two rooms in her house are devoted to the sweetest vinyls. Crazy White Bitches is a second hand clothing initiative she started with her two best friends. They source cool, hard-to-find apparel from across South Africa and sell it at events that read more like parties than sales. Beer and hip hop DJs will confuse you like that.

I’m  a Fine Art student at the University of Cape Town and am  responsible for the post production scrapbooking that screams pre-teen dream. Obsessed with glitter, Hello Kitty and Britney Spears, I refuse to act my age. I’m also responsible for the styling, using mostly pieces from the Crazy White Bitches collection to create simple, fresh looks with big ass platforms for attitude.

We’re all babies of the 90′s, conceived in the throes of the 80′s hangover, living through this new millennium’s puberty. It’s a tremulous time. High on Americana, yet not forgetting our homeland is how we operate. We’re not about to act out our “Africaness” in a contrived way. This is a global world after all, and we’re all citizens of the internet. Collaboration is the language we speak.

This shoot is not high fashion; it’s not your typical Eastern European babe bathed in gazillion dollar clothes. It’s young and frivolous – revealing something of the personalities of those involved. We like McDonald’s and listen to Justin Bieber, but we are simultaneously engaged in contemporary art debates. Such a fuss is made about high art vs. low art. Surely we have descended far too deep down this postmodern rabbit hole for any of that to matter? Let’s break those walls down 1989 style.

Intellectualizing these images seems a bit redundant. They are fun and flirty and yet also the result of internalising various global sources. These photographs display a certain integrity despite the lack of integrity of the materials that adorn them. Tyler, the Creator said it best. We all fucking walking paradoxes. Let’s just go with it.

Click “Read More” for additional images.

Photography:  Lea Colombo
Stylist, scrapbooker and text: Jana Terblanche
Model: Fani Segerman

This is a little teaser video provided by Andrew Kuykendall from the shoot he did in Palm Springs with the insanely beautiful Ashely Smith for the new issue of . We are so excited about our new issue, I don’t even know where to start. I think it is our weirdest, most interesting issue ever (really, seriously) and I’m just balls out in love with it. More teasers to come, as I sit on my hands trying to not leak the entire issue to you.

Shot and edited by Andrew Kuykendall and Jean-Pierre Caner. Model, Ashely Smith. Styling by Djuna Bel for Giant Artists. Makeup and Hair, Daniele Pierson. Styling Assistant, Sara Medd. Song: “It’s Your Voodoo Working” by Charles Sheffield

This clever ad campaign is for the College of Creative Studies, an art school in Detroit. Clever, but oh how true. Click “Read More” below for additional images.

Above photo: Rick Ross signing a photograph of himself by Jonathan Mannion at AE Gallery

Saturday, December 2 on South Beach saw the Phillips du Pury charity auction at The Webster benefiting the Playgrounds Around The World charity. Artworks by Ryan McGinley, Dan Colen and the late Dash Snow hung on the walls, the first time the three downtown legends had ever shown together. The three pieces raised just over $200,000 ($150,000 for the Colen alone, the other two about $25,000 each) for the charity.

Mihoko’s 21 Grams, a high-end Franco-Japanese restaurant opening in Manhattan next year, provided guests dinner prior to the auction, replete with caviar and pink chevre mousse bombs. As bidding concluded, an impromptu dance party began, the star of which was 9 year-old Sunny Melet, who began to jump rope with a giant scarf worn by one of the guests, urging everyone to take turns.

After the room played jump rope, Ryan McGinley spoke about how happy he was to be involved in the auction. “I chose this piece because I knew it would sell, since this is a charity auction you always want to pick a piece that will sell. It’s an important cause. And I’m happy to do anything to promote Dash Snow’s work.”

He commented that this year at Basel was his most enjoyable to date. “My favorite experience at Basel this year was having my work shown with a few artists whom I really love and respect, who I have never shown with before. It was also great to see my work displayed on a 7000 square foot screen at The Bass Museum event. I’ve never had my work displayed on such a large scale, and it was amazing for me. It was like a drive-in theater, with a few hundred people watching on bean bags. On the other hand, my least favorite experience this year in Miami was getting a moving violation for rolling through a stop sign. I haven’t been pulled over in years… It was bad. Terrible.” (laughs).  New York artist Brent Birnbaum jokingly added, “My favorite thing at Basel this year has been seeing composed civilized people wasted on the street.”

Above photo: Bodybuilders in front of Mint & Serf graffiti at the Norwood/Patrick Duffy party

Patrick Duffy’s Norwood party at the Shore Club with downtown graffiti artists Mint & Serf filled the last night of Basel with bulging muscles, spray paint and hip hop. Mint&Serf, AKA Mirf, lead the Peter Pan Posse, a downtown collective that runs the streets of today like the Irak and ALIFE crews did a decade ago.

At the pool behind the Shore Club, shiny bodybuilders flexed, smiled and posed in front of a spread of fake candy treats and a backdrop of a 1950’s era suburban living room. Guests reclined in cabanas, smoking weed from apples. People danced around the bar and DJ booth as Gucci Mane and Dipset bounced through the tall sheer white curtains that billowed in the breeze.

Around 8pm, the body builders left their posts, and Mint & Serf’s graffiti crew quickly moved in and began spray-painting all over the backdrop. Mint dropped “REAL NY” in the upper right-hand corner. Guests crowded around, mesmerized as the artists fluidly took turns, spraying layer over layer of graffiti for over twenty minutes.

Then the body builders resumed their perches, and the artists headed to the DJ booth to pose for pictures and generally jump around like lovable juvenile clowns. “We’re the PPP!” laughed Mint, forever young indeed.

“The most important thing we’ve learned this Basel is keeping it cute, and keeping a lot of swag,” chimed in Jacuzzi Chris, AKA Same. Mint added, “This is by far our favorite event of Basel this year, because it’s so weird. Writing graffiti while smelling bronzer… After going to crazy parties, you get the idea. Everyone has crazy swag. There was the Louis Vuitton party with the bottles and the models, but it’s contained.” It was refreshing to be at a non-corporate event filled with a true Basel mix, where the PPP graf boys and the DSquared duo, Dan and Dean Caten, in matching white jeans, could mingle with trannies and Miami fake boobs. “Wow, this is great,” Dean or Dan Caten said (we weren’t sure who was who).

Few crews so dominated the Basel scene as PPP, with members showing art, throwing parties, doing public graffitti walls, DJing, performing and just generally winning Miami’s annual competition for best downtown crew. And this party – wild, weird, fun – was a great example of their unique New York swag.

Above photo: Rick Ross in conversation with photographer Jonathan Mannion at AE Gallery

In Miami’s design district, AE Gallery hosted Classic, an exhibition of key works of iconic urban music photographer Jonathan Mannion. Mannion has become the go-to photographer for legendary hip hop artists, and is renowned for developing strong, ongoing relationships with celebrated musicians who trust his ability to capture their artistry. His photographs of hip hop icons such as Jay-Z, Notorious BIG and Lil Wayne at once inspire a flooring sense of awe for their subject, whilst engendering a profound emotional connectedness. They capture not only the glamour and gravity, but their unguarded humanity.

Rick Ross made an appearance and sat down with Mannion to discuss photographs he has taken throughout Ross’s career. Each photograph was projected onto a screen and the pair reclined in white leather armchairs, reminiscing over each shared memory. At a photograph of Ross subdued in a canary yellow fur, Mannion exclaimed, “Bumble bee yellow fur?!” Ross, incredibly articulate and unstoppably smooth throughout the discussion, replied simply, “Yeaah!” “What was on your mind at this time?” “Excess.”

When I asked about his favorite moment of his career thus far, Ross replied, “It’s hard to pinpoint any one moment. There were so many minor struggles that meant so much to me. Looking at those pictures, I just remember that this was a dream. A dream that I worked hard for- I set a goal and I went after it. Any artist, you can create your own destiny. That’s something that I’m a living testament to.”

Below photo: Nine-year-old Sunny Melet jumping rope at The Webster charity art auction

Thursday night at the Gussman Theater for Performing Arts gave us the premiere of a short film by the graffiti artist Neck Face, followed by a performance by SALEM. Neck Face’s film, Born Under A Bad Sign, was mediocre if passable, but did end with a Kung-Fu street battle between a sworded man in a massive and delicately exquisite carved headpiece, and a tiny Asian woman who ended up having her neck slit, true to Neck Face’s frightening style.

SALEM subsequently took over the stage, filling it with soft, dense smoke, each member appearing witchy and swaying under alternating spotlights. Their gothic hip-hop chants (“If you can’t beat your bitch/Then you don’t need your bitch”) were delightfully contrasted with the decor of the restored Gussman, which is an odd mix of baroque/Mediterranean/gothic, but nonetheless lavishly beautiful.

Later in the night, The Black Lips gave an out-of-control performance at the Toyota Antics party at Grand Central. Guitarist Cole Alexander jumped and somersaulted into the crowd, who loved every moment of the rowdy spectacle. Backstage, Alexander was just as hyperactive, bopping and constantly moving around, clothed all in bright green. “Basel is kinda pretentious,” he said. “but I like art, so whatever.” Lead singer Jared Swilley commented “We are probably the greatest artists at Basel. Also, period. When I look in the mirror it’s considered art.”

Tony Cederteg is undeniably all things creative. A publisher, editor, designer, art director, musician and a friend, to name a few. In the beginning of December he surfaced as Jony and released a 7-inch vinyl entitled Fartygets Fingrar in an edition of 100 white transparent copies. In keeping with the “more than meets the eye” spirit the first 50 copies came with two CD-R records (Sibirien Series Vol. 1 & Vol. 2) and 23 new additional songs recorded on a cell phone and computer, along with a small booklet of lyrics. No, he’s not a Transformer. Yes, he does enjoy a good bottle of water and a bag of chips. Click “Read More” to enjoy his music and to watch the projects two music videos, directed, respectively, by Todd Jordan and Adam Saletti.

A welcome departure from the standard holiday festivities, The Grand Street Bakery marks the debut of The Cilo at The Bakery with tonight’s opening party. Situated in the back room of the bakery, which used to house a flour cilo, The Cilo expands The Bakery’s inspired mix of new and vintage clothing, homewares and trinkets by focusing on vintage electronic accessories, including vintage turntables, speakers, receivers and Danish Modern record buffets circa the ’60s. I was lucky enough to have a little sneak preview last week, and they’re truly beautiful. Among the “new” offerings are candles in the shape of Morrissey’s head, each hand carved by Derrick Cruz of Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons. Additionally, vinyls will be available from local bands, including the Wild Yaks, the Minks and Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, who will be performing tonight at the opening along with Anyways It’s Monday.

The Cilo at The Bakery is located at 602 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NYC. Its opening party is tonight, December 16, from 7pm-11pm.

At the entrance of Design Miami this year, onlookers gawked at the dreamscape installation – the latest in a series of design/artist collaborations spearheaded by Silvia Fendi. After three years of bold projects at the Fair, the design stalwart called upon Berlin-based design visionaries Sebastian Neeb and Elisa Strozyk this year to create “Craft Alchemy.” Inspired by the 300-year-old Neo Classical Fendi Palazzo, the duo used recycled leather from Fendi’s warehouse to recreate Baroque furniture replicas – or their deconstructed “twins” – an act of alchemy indeed, an homage to classical craftsmanship and brazen metamorphosis. What arose was a sumptuous mise-en-scene installation populated by ethereal hybrid furniture creatures – a space infused with childlike wonder and curious tensions. A fantasy Pallazzo of avian commodes and angled tables, wooden cabinets spooling leather pools and legless pianos were scattered and suspended by threads, fastened in leather or placed in conspicuous. Traditional craft of the past became tactile, living entities, re-imagined and re-contextualized, as wood morphed into undulating leather. And so we saw the very act of alchemy – not only of materials but concerning the artistic endeavor at large – to transform, transfigure, and transcend temporal, material and formal limitations.

Sebastian Neeb and Elisa Strozyk’s shared reverence for Enlightenment era craftsmanship, fantasy and the unexpected pushed them to experiment with this space, creating an imagined narrative to inform the work.
“We created our own story and space within the Palazzo – an imagined place.. It was a secret room, sealed for 300 years,” explained Neeb, describing a certain spirit that “had seeped into the furniture.“ Certainly the space, these works, possessed a particular vitality – with knotted appendages, undulating skins busting from seams, commodes suspended like clumsy marionettes. Half-deflated cabinets spewed macramé, hovering like ghosts from the ceiling- an exact replica of a similar roll-top drawer in Berlin’s Museum of Decorative Arts —made entirely of leather. Ornate Baroque tables floated, mischievous and rigid consoles melted and puddled into tidal sweeps. A creased angular table squatted at the entrance, crafted of yellow leather and knock-kneed, “a little troublemaker,” dubbed by one onlooker. Nearby a hung commode seemed to be an eerie apparition held on an intricate web. In the Collectors Lounge were legless pianos, which the couple scavenged from a piano graveyard in Miami- the wood tarnished, the keys peeled back- the top lined with woven leather cushions. Aside from a curvy baroque dresser that they bought on eBay, the pieces are all handcrafted and modeled after those by the 18th century German cabinetmakers Abraham and David Roentgen, whose clients included Marie Antoinette and Empress Catherine.

Fendi itself has an aesthetic ethos that fuses old and new, hard and soft, combining tradition with innovation. At the intersection of classical craftsmanship and brazen innovation, these works cleave to this tension. Fendi as a brand likes to push and challenge ourselves. “This show forces us to ask what are things made of- it plays with illusion and metamorphosis,” remarked Silvia Fendi, describing it as a process with its own vitality and pulse, one that unfolds freely. “We believe in creativity without interruption or limits. We don’t try to control anything. This is not about marketing. They aren’t creating merchandise for a collection. These are limited one-off editions. It is about creativity in its purist form.”

“We hadn’t worked with leather before this,” admitted Neeb at his bustling booth. The couple visited the leather workshop in Florence, where they selected discarded leather for the project and took in the age-old craft of leatherwork. “We learned what we could, but had to create our own process – an evolving one full of the unexpected. A new fusion of material and ideas.”

Mimicking the ornamental and immaculate craftsmanship of the 18th Century, these replicas used whimsy and brazen design, comedy and movement to express something fresh. Herringbone parquet floors and embroidered stencil frames, as well as meticulous attention to highly wrought ornamentation allowed them to remain loyal to the period and classical sensibility, an ethos that matches with the identity of Fendi, which strives for experiment and innovation, yet roots itself in classical craftsmanship. 
Said Neeb of the process: “We began with these pieces of furniture from another era – the golden age of craftwork.” After studying the forms with fastidious mimicry, they began to recreate this world. “They all started out as copies and became these unexpected objects. They turned into these living things. They are like animals, almost. Each has its own life.”

The show also focused on the efficacy and import of material and its possibility. “We imagine these materials fighting against each other, coming to life” remarked artist Elisa Strozyk. The tension is palpable as hard wood morphed into breathing, tactile swaths. One cabinet seemed to be bursting at its seems in leather bulges, as if is “puffing its way out” of its old body, and supple leather seeped out from busted seams overtaking wooden frames, or erupting alongside melting drawers. The Berlin-based couple, recently lauded for their Accordion Cabinet design, is part of the installation’s live, real time performance. Within the interior, populated by curious and sumptuous forms, was their workshop. Surrounded by bustling hoards, with fastidious, almost trancelike concentration, they worked meticulously – stitching and embossing, carving wood and birthing tactile, contemporary twins of the Baroque relics. Throughout the duration of the fair, the Berlin-based couple continued to transform and populate this stage. In a trance of fastidious craftsmanship, politely answering questions from time to time, they produced five new pieces, catering to ogling onlookers. To watch the work in action, is to see objects spring to life, as if by their own volition. The alchemist transforms and thus embodies the full role of the artist. Salvaged antique relics become heaving, breathing designs of the future, dreamlike, curious and teeming with life.

Throughout the fair, Silvia Fendi was on hand encouraging guests to spend time with these pieces and the artists at the fair, to watch them work and take time with these intricate works. “Look up into them. Touch them. This is about interaction. Collaboration. The creative act.”

While the showcase is not for sale, The Fendi Foundation for Limited Edition Design plans to stage an exhibit in Rome next year featuring all of its one-of-a-kind Design Miami and Fatto a Mano for the Future collaborations.