I was flipping through the latest Art News when I caught a familiar style and motif in one of the ads. Checking out the advertised site later, I was greeted with a little more than I expected…

Click on the following finely crafted link and check out the painting "Nom De Plume" by Tony Curanaj.

Back?

His work is phenomenal as usual but I love the easter egg up in the left hand corner.

That's where it's at.

I met him a few months back and I was definitely geeked out when he talked about that idea, so to see it in full bloom is five flavors of awesome. I've messed around with that idea- subtly inserting pure graffiti into the background of "traditional art*," but that's a whole different level.

*1, 2, 3 examples.

**I just noticed his name was spelled wrong on the site I linked to. Someone needs an editor.

Thanks to me

I can't count the number of people I've gotten messages or friend requests from that I haven't seen or spoken to in 10,12,15 years.

Here's a perfect example. My old boss from Superhero Universe is living in Nashville and has a myspace music profile: Geoff Clarke

Cool stuff.

Check out the owner of one of Boston's all-time great hand styles profiled on eMusic:

eMusic Spotlight – Taster’s Choice: Gilles Peterson and Kon and Amir

There is no lone American equivalent to Peterson’s multi-platform reach, but the East Coast DJ duo of Kon and Amir probably come close in terms of record collections. They first became
known for their On Track tapes throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, hip-hop-influenced mixes of little-known singles and breakbeats and recently discovered samples that entranced generations of record collectors. They recently put out Off Track, a three-hour mix of their best gems, including Quest’s highly sought-after disco cut “Boy Scouts” — it pays soaring tribute to the Boy Scouts of America, and must be heard to be believed — Le Stim’s pepped-up, percussive “Tribute to Muhammad Ali” and Jacqueline Dee and Johnnie Wal’s charmingly titled “Farewell to Welfare.” When even the tracklisting looks cool, that’s when you know you have untouchable taste.

Much more later. For now, here's a VAULT hand I caught in Florence…