Art IS Commerce

You like it? Ingmar Bergman will buy it for you. (Well, if it's under about $25. ) Behold the new Swedish 200 kr. starring one of the greatest auteurs of all time. 

via

Curio: James Charles' American Iconomics

Alexa here with your weekly arts and crafts. At the Bad Dads show in New York last week, currency artist James Charles' had some work up, but I thought he deserved his own post. James has been working for years on his series called American Iconomics. In it, James alters actual U.S. currency with the faces of actors, actresses, musicians, and other icons of popular culture.  Similar to Andre Levy's coin portraits, James morphs the familiar presidents’ faces into his new portraits, even successfully altering the text at the bottom to carry a message together with each portrait.  

Here are some if his bills from the world of film...

Click to read more ...

How's Dianne? Still Great.

Lukewarm off the presses! In a theater article at the New York Times a week ago about the new play Rasheeda Speaking starring Tonya Pinkins, her co-star, the two-time Oscar winner Dianne Wiest made a statement that quickly raised eyebrows that she didn't have enough work to pay her rent. It came when the actresses discussed the difficulties of finding good roles, which is surely depressing when you're basically a genius. (Tonya Pinkins, for what it's worth, gave one of the all time best theatrical performances I've ever seen in the musical Caroline or Change a decade ago. Idina Menzel winning her Tony was basically as ridiculous as say Benigni taking the one that shoulda gone to Norton or McKellen.)

More...

Click to read more ...

Curio: Coin Characters

Alexa here with your weekly art break. Brazilian-born, Frankfurt-based graphic designer Andre Levy uses his free time from his job in advertising to create more personal work.  One of these projects has gotten a lot of attention on the internet: entitled "Tales You Lose," the project has Levy transforming coins into portraits of pop culture icons. 

Amelie, Bride of Frankenstein and more after the jump

Click to read more ...

What Should Ryan Gosling Spend All This Cash On?

Suggest some purchases in the comments... Just don't say "a shirt" because no one needs Gosling to wear those! What would we do without his "pets"?

I'm posting this picture from the upcoming The Place Beyond The Pines because they've cut this scene from the film so memorize it now while you still have the chance. The movie was 140 minutes long at TIFF last year so I'm wondering if anything else was trimmed.

Ooh, I have a suggestion for what he should buy. A new poster for the movie because the one I've embedded after the jump leaves a lot to be desired.

Click to read more ...