In a cartoon-psychedelic world, there are a lot of crazy things. Like anthropomorphic balloons, creepy old men who like to kill balloons, crazy koalas, man animals, a cartoon incarnation of Dave Grohl with laser eyes, shrubs with faces, musical mold, men with snare drum heads, scary sloths, a tribe of elves, monster mosquitos, Johnny Depp with a sickle, bean bag children, lumberjacks with hypothermia, fat men that shoot rainbows and stars out of their stomachs, unicorns, guys who are into animals, sea creatures, break dancers, a flying bear superhero, an albino who likes to lick old ladies’ flowers, a bald guy with 3-D glasses that has a magical cup of stars, and a whole lot of really average rabbits.

Written & Directed by Ian Stevenson & Luke Seomore, illustrated by Ian Stevenson and brought to life by animator Alex Dobbin. Music by Graffiti 6.

Video after the jump.

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This very NSFW video for Truckers Delight by Flairs might get you fired, but it would be well worth it. Think of it as the Lucasarts classic Full Throttle mixed with Don’t Stop the Beat from Junior Senior x Shynola, blended thoroughly with the raunchiest parts of Heavy Metal. Then serve it with a garnish of japanese cartoon porn. Trust me, it’s amazing. From the talented and un-Google-able Jérémie Perin. Video after the break.

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While the Flairs track is good, I’m posting this one under Art & Design the animation is what really got me.

Actually no.  That title is hella depressing when looking at this strikingly consistent (and hella depressing) portfolio.  I say striking because I’d be impressed if someone had a pic of just one albatross skeleton, let alone enough to make an entire series out of it and all the juicy trinkets they swallowed that wouldn’t decompose!  I understand that you may not want to click on the link based on that last sentence, but trust me, these photos are better than my wordsmithing.

Sometimes I worry I’m becoming to jaded.  Too focused on what’s new to appreciate what’s old, too concerned with what’s good to discover what i like.  Well here’s something I like.  I like Jan von Hollenben’s photos.  The innocence in her photographs Dreams of Flying collection, and the subtle sexiness in her Where we Laughed collection.  

Her photos play with the viewer’s perspective to create fantastical storyboards from some children’s story, real or imagined.  I’ll tell you why I like this, because this is what every parent should be doing with their kid.  Seriously, think of the imagination and creativity Jan is fostering in these kids by involving them in a project like this.  So what if there’s no edge, vulgarity, or irony here, this is something I would want to do with my kids.

At a distance, Monet’s paintings appear to be beautiful landscapes; up close, they are gestural splashes of color. At a distance, Jonathan Yeo’s collages are vibrant, stylized still-lifes and portraits; up close, his collages are titties, pussies, and cocks.

His pieces are fine examples of the old saying, “the medium is the message,” particularly his x-rated rendition of George W. Bush. The collage was originally commissioned by the Bush Library, but upon seeing the result, it was decided that his services would no longer be neccesary. Check out this video of the artist discussing his process and some more pieces after the break.

Especially when electronic music, Flash and After Effects are involved. This is a student piece created with the help of Whizzdesign studio. Watch the video after the jump.

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Sculptor, Jason Hackenwerth, has taken balloon animal making to a whole new level. His giant sculptures, made entirely out of  balloons, are both beautiful and frightening depending on what meaning your mind tries to assign these pieces. It would be amazing to see his work in person, but my goodness does his aerial art photograph beautifully. You can also view his work in videos, see Hackenwerth’s process and creations in motion on his YouTube page Mrsuperdeluxe.

I recently stumbled upon Film the Blanks, a website dedicated to simplifying various film posters. Even though some are difficult to recognize, it is wonderful to see these posters reduced to such a simple form. These “blanks” are posted Monday through Friday along with a clue to help you decode the geometric movie puzzle. Prizes consist of special one-off posters to the highest score at each “blank checkpoint,” along with a mega-prize at the end of the year. Start guessing or submit your own blank on their website.

So, over the past couple months something really interesting happened in NYC – a new art school was started and it’s free to attend, no catch other than it isn’t accredited, but they think the accredited system is full of shit anyway. The ‘university’ was started by a collective of artists known as the Bruce High Quality Foundation. Their recent work includes the film Isle of the Dead depicting the art world as zombies, driving a boat with a miniture version of Manhattan and a mock version of Cristo’s The Gates around Manhattan, and their ongoing performance piece Public Sculpture Tackle (awesome).

Amongst their subversive and well thought out public pieces they also recently gave a lecture called Explaining Pictures to a Dead Bull… which was a nice prereq for the University. The idea is that art school costs to much, and is a corporate system which you’re forever indebted to by attending. So fuck that, start your own school! Which, they did. Stating that the Bruce High Quality Foundation University is “A university, a space for higher education and research, a community of scholars; an expansion of the BHQF practice to include more participants (that’s where U come in); and a “fuck you” to the hegemony of critical solemnity and market-mediocre despair.”

The first classes started last week, with one class called “Build your own University,” which will be responsible for setting up how everything well run, while other classes include The Occult Shenanigans in 20th/21st Century Art, What is a Metaphor, Futurological Poetry, Edifying, Environmental Music Performance + more. To get into the classes all you have to do is keep watch for their next open house to sign up.

If it is what they’re trying for it’ll be nothing short of incredible! I mean, really all the classes people take to achieve that special piece of paper and most of the time they don’t even give a shit. So give it to those who really want it and those who aren’t in it for a piece of paper, but in it for the art and the sake of continuing it’s development. This feels like the right place to also tell you what their motto is… “Don’t say can’t. Say canarchy.” … And I’m sold.

It’ll be interesting to watch how this develops over the next couple months, but I would have no qualms over moving to NYC and taking some classes with them…

This one’s been making the rounds a bit, but if you’ve missed it, here’s the latest work from PaperMonster. Collage and stencil joined together for some alternative-pop art with a hint of sex and a hint of anime thrown in. With the help of DirtyPilot, they’re putting together an online stencil art show called “Friends With Knives”. Look for it September 18th, and look for it to be a bit pricey.

Lets be real here: vinyl is awesome, record albums are awesome, and turntables are awesome.  However, all of these things can be quite bulky and a total pain to transport.  That all can change with Linos, a portable and, as of yet, unpurchasable record player.  But Linos is a wonderful idea-vinyl sales are exploding as people seek for a more tangible way to appreciate their music.  I can imagine this showing up everywhere, from college dorms to living rooms, it is very well thought out.

As a rule, all of Charlie Pyott designs are presented as well thought out.  Check out the All Mountain GPS.  We see the concept work, the design process, and final product.  Its like a research poster, except with way cooler toys

I didn’t really like my economics class in high school, so I doodled all over the book.  I remember thinking halfway through the year, and halfway through the book, that this had moved beyond a simple act of vandalism.  This was a doodle diary ornamenting the pages of an otherwise lifeless text.

I wish my doodles were anywhere near as clever as fail_art.  Using ink to add some good ol’ violence and nudity to these old, pastoral illustrations makes for some pretty funny reading..even if you don’t read russian.