Posts made in February 2021

Alfa Romeo x “Passione”

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By: Emily Bunn

Love is in the air this Valentine’s Day with Alfa Romeo’s interactive e-book release, “Passione.” The Italian “Passione” translates in English to “passion,” inspired by Alfa Romeo’s roots in Turin, Italy. The brand’s iconic designs and craftsmanship over the past 110 years of automotive production have set Alfa Romeo apart, though the brand’s love for creating luxurious, beautiful vehicles has remained unchanged. Their new e-book looks to detail how key design elements have distinguished Alfa Romeo’s legendary automobiles, and how the company’s unparalleled approach has caught the eyes and hearts of Alfa Romeo fans, adoringly dubbed ‘Alfistis’, globally.

Upon opening the e-book, readers are met with a bold statement from Orazio Satta Puliga, Head of Alfa Romeo Engineering from 1946-1973.

“We are in the realm of sensations, passions, things that have to do more with the head than the heart.”

“Passione” looks to showcase the impressive history of Alfa Romeo, providing an exclusive look at renderings and sketches from AR’s designers at Centro Stile (Design Center) in Turin, Italy. The e-book looks to the past and future of Alfa Romeo, including ten chapters of diverse designs, timeless beauty, and Italian inspiration: “Italian roots”, “Heritage”, “Purity”, “Disruption”, “Red”, “Beauty Is Everywhere”, “Beauty and the Beast”, and “Design Melting Pot.” The informational text in the e-book chronicles the brand’s legacy, and is paired with beautiful imagery, inspired by 14^th century Italian Renaissance art and design elements.

To learn more, read Alfa Romeo’s “Passione” e-book here.

Alfa Romeo DNA (sketches by Centro Stile)

Purity: Alfa Romeo Giulia GT (rendering by Centro Stile)

Beauty for everyone: Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione and MiTo (rendering by Centro Stile)

The KOA Phantom

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By: Emily Bunn

“A Luxury Commission of Patience”

In a sumptuous collaboration with car enthusiast Jack Boyd Smith Jr., Rolls Royce has created the first ever Bespoke Koa wood Rolls Royce Phantom. The one-of-a-kind vehicle was produced with naturally harvested Koa wood sourced from a rare private collection in Hawaii. This Bespoke Commission was inspired by the Smith’s family rocking chair, a center piece in their home, bringing a familiar warmth and comfort to the vehicle’s interior. The exterior hue color, a deep navy blue, was color-matched to Mr. Smith’s 1934 Packard Twelve Coup.

Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, spoke of this legendary commission in a Rolls Royce press release:

“It is our honor to present Jack Boyd Smith, Jr. with his latest Rolls-Royce Phantom commission. This Bespoke creation joins a collection of truly notable and historic motor cars. The Koa Phantom demonstrates the extraordinary skill of the Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective–a precious and rare example of a naturally sourced material, Koa Wood, is masterfully incorporated into Phantom’s contemporary interior. It took more than three years for this commission to come to life and we are delighted that it will take an important place in The JBS Collection of Jack Boyd Smith, Jr.”

One of the most notable features of the vehicle a glimmering Bespoke headliner, handcrafted with 1,420 fiber-optic lights on the navy-blue leather interior, created a star-spangled view of the night sky, any time of day. The constellations of lights depict the night sky on the date of Mrs. Smith’s birth, a heartwarming personal dedication that makes this vehicle even more unique. This commission took three years to complete, and has been called “the ultimate expression of Patience and Bespoke” by Rolls Royce. The Koa Phantom joins Mr. Smith’s collection as his fifth Rolls Royce. When asked by the company if his collection is complete, Mr. Smith replied in release statement:

“There is no finish line that I hit and say, okay I’m done. That’s not going to happen because I am going to buy another building and we’ll just continue going.”

Find Your Happiness With Hypnotherapy

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Cupid has been slacking this year. Singles need to settle for virtual dates if they want to maintain social distancing regulations and have a love life, and relationships have been falling apart all across the globe. So, we need to change the direction of Cupid’s arrow towards ourselves and start practicing self-love.

Loving yourself and caring for yourself first will help you find the happiness you are capable of having. Society has placed a stigma against single people as if it is a condition brought upon by them being unworthy of love, and some people allow this mindset of others to enter their own thoughts. Allowing these outside variables to influence your opinion of yourself will only amplify the negative feelings you have about what it means to be alone. You have the ability to challenge these feelings and these thoughts which will lead you to seeing your own worth.

An effective way to help change your mindset and guide you to a more positive outlook is to practice hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy is essentially meditation but with a goal. So why not take meditation practices a step further? Hypnotherapy, as the name suggests, is a therapy. Counter to pop culture depiction of hypnosis associating people clucking like chickens while being hypnotized, hypnotherapy is a proven tool. Albrecht Wobst, H. K. MD, from Anesthesia & Analgesia writes “Contemporary clinical investigators claim that the combination of analgesia and hypnosis is superior to conventional pharmacologic anesthesia for minor surgical cases, with patients and surgeons responding favorably.” Research on the effectiveness of hypnotherapy continues to grow.

So, how can we use hypnotherapy to help with loneliness? First, we need to understand hypnotherapy. Certified clinical hypnotherapist, Christine Deschemin, shares “A typical approach of hypnotherapy is for the hypnotist to deliver verbal suggestions that are tailored to the needs of the client.” She also shares that you can practice hypnotherapy on your own, with just an audio guide from her app, UpNow, to get you started. “Hypnosis is a naturally occurring state of awareness. This state achieves the ‘bypass of the critical factor’ and as a result enables you to make changes to the self-defeating behaviors and self-limiting beliefs, bringing you then to your desired target state – sleeping better, becoming slimmer, and managing pain more easily for instance.”

So, we can target the negative feelings triggered from loneliness due to the adverse connotations we associate with being alone through self-hypnosis. Our subconscious thoughts have a strong impact on the way we view and approach different things in life and by practicing self-hypnosis, we can help change those thoughts. We can learn how to enjoy our own company and grow to value it. We can also help diminish anxiety about the future, and the depression and hopelessness that sometimes comes with being single and actively searching for a partner with no avail.

When you work on yourself first, and you start to manage your own struggles, you will also start to attract better people around you. Building up your confidence and independence will help you to fearlessly work towards your goals. The closer you get to your goals the more confidence you will have. Working on yourself and your independence will become your priority, as it should always be.

Remember, being in a relationship is not the determining factor of success, but there is nothing wrong with wanting a partner either. Yet, in order to love someone else you have to learn to love yourself first, practicing self-hypnosis will help you get there.

With the pandemic bringing a new type of challenge for those looking for love and happiness, we are in a constant search for new methods of how to cope and navigate those struggles. Christine Deschemin’s app, UpNow, was created to enable people to practice hypnotherapy on their own in a safe and affordable manner. You can use hypnotherapy audios from UpNow to bring you to your full potential and find what you’re looking for.

ELECTRIC GUEST x DARELL x RVSSIAN: “FREESTYLE”

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ALL-STAR COLLABORATION ARRIVES ALONGSIDE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO STARRING THE ARTISTS SHOT IN MIAMI + CALIFORNIA.

Acclaimed indie-pop duo Electric Guest have teamed up with Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Darell and Jamaican producer Rvssian for today’s release of “Freestyle (feat. Darell & Rvssian)” – listen HERE.

The high-energy collaboration finds the Latin superstars lending their signature reggaeton spin to the track, originally featured on Electric Guest’s 2019 album KIN. The new version of “Freestyle” also arrives with a brand-new music video featuring the artists in their respective cities of Miami and Los Angeles – watch HERE.

The origins of the collaboration stem in large part from lead singer Asa Taccone’s desire to dive deeper into his Puerto Rican roots (courtesy of his father). While Puerto Rican culture and their heritage has always been celebrated by his family, Asa has long wanted to embrace this more within his music.

In the months before the pandemic, Asa’s father – who was directing John Leguizamo’s Broadway show ‘Latin History for Morons’ – came to an Electric Guest show in New York, bringing Leguizamo with him. They talked afterwards and encouraged him to explore the culture more.

Around that time, Electric Guest was looking to revisit album track “Freestyle” and considering releasing a new version with an added verse from a featured artist.

As Asa explains: “Freestyle was the last song we wrote for the album. It took us forever because we couldn’t figure out the chorus melody. We ended up doing a session with Ne-Yo at a studio in L.A. We sat down and played him the instrumental and he immediately started humming… after about 10 minutes we had the chorus that had eluded me for months.

But the song kind of slipped under the radar. We had always wanted to do a video for it and possibly get a feature, but Covid hit while we were on tour and like the rest of the world, our cycle ground to a halt and we never really got around to it.”

Asa has long been a fan of Darell and Rvssian’s music, so having them featured on a new version of the track felt like the perfect way to dip his toes into the Latin sound. After sending the song their way with the hopes of just a verse, he and bandmate Matthew Compton were sent back a fully-formed, almost entirely new version of the track that the Puerto Rican rapper and Jamaican producer had recorded in Miami.

“It was a totally different format… really their own take on it,” Asa shared. “I think everyone felt the same which was like, ‘Well that is… kind of a better version!’”

Speaking on their collaboration, Rvssian shares: “Remixing the song was fun because I had changed the production from one genre to another. And having Darell add his Latin touch on the vocals… this created a nice fusion.”

Darell adds: “When Rvssian hit me up to participate in this collab, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The end result I feel gives great vibes. For me, it’s always a pleasure to keep growing the culture and blending musical worlds together.”

On the making of the video, Asa shared: “The crew came up from Miami and – even though we were in masks – it was definitely a party on set. I think that vibe translated into the video… riding that horse was equal parts terrifying and fun.”

Electric Guest’s third album KIN was released in 2019, featuring standout tracks, “Dollar,” “Play With Me,” and “More.” The LP was met with critical acclaim, with Associated Press declaring “KIN is a breezy confection of fiendishly clever pop hooks augmented by some computer wizardry.” Uproxx also praised the project as “a masterclass in modern pop that’s anchored by real, genuine emotion.”

The band supported the album with a massive run throughout Europe and the United States, including back-to-back sold-out New York shows at Webster Hall and Music Hall of Williamsburg – with the latter added by overwhelming popular demand.

TIME included “More” in their ‘5 Best Songs of the Week,’ proclaiming it “a retro-inflected electro-pop tune that rings sweet and sincere.” The high-energy music video for the track was directed by Joe Weil (Kendrick Lamar, YG, Khalid) and premiered on People. In the exclusive premiere of the video for fan favorite, “Play With Me,” PAPER declared the visual: “part R&B music video parody + part fantasia — more music videos should tread this fine line, honestly.”

“Dollar” came accompanied by an equally feel-good music video, directed by The Lonely Island’s Jorma Taccone and co-starring a fully operational hovercraft DeLorean. That visual had its exclusive debut via Complex, which wrote, “[‘Dollar’] is representative of the duo’s goal of entering this latest era with a desire to make straight up, unapologetic pop.”

BUY/STREAM “FREESTYLE” (FEAT. DARELL & RVSSIAN): HERE

WATCH OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO: HERE

Cut A Rug A Round Square

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Curated by: Jessica Stockholder
The American artist curates an exhibition of works from the collection of “la Caixa” Foundation and CRT Foundation for Modern and Contemporary Art and turns them into a large environmental installation.
Many times has the “end” of painting been declared and just as many times its “rebirth” has been attested: with the desire to investigate the limits and contemporary potentialities of painting, from February 11 OGR–Officine Grandi Riparazioni–presents Cut a rug a round square, a new site-specific commission developed for the former industrial spaces of OGR Turin by the American artist Jessica Stockholder.
Chosen for her peculiar perspective, Jessica Stockholder has played over the last twenty years a crucial role in the ongoing debate on painting and its limits, expanding the concept in a relentless dialogue amid various media, between form and space, by forcing the limits of painting towards the sculptural and installation dimension.
In her work, the artist combines apparently disparate and ordinary objects to create complex installations that hoard and stratify materials and colors: plastic bags and containers, extension cords, lumber, carpets, and furniture: in her hands, these often-neglected objects recover aesthetic and formal qualities in a practice reminiscent of abstract expressionism, color field painting, and minimalism.
For the project set up inside Binario 1 of OGR Cult, the area of OGR dedicated to art and culture, the artist Jessica Stockholder converted into an exceptional curator and created a unique installation with works from two important collections: the Collection of Contemporary Art “la Caixa” of Barcelona, and that of the CRT Foundation for Modern and Contemporary Art, whose works are on permanent loan to the Turin museums Gam – Gallery of Modern Art and Castello di Rivoli, Museum of Contemporary Art.
To plan her route across the rich heritage at her disposal, the artist developed a concept that is both rigorous and poetic: “I am exploring how the generally rectilinear geometry inherent in the contour, or edge, of paintings, generates meaning both inside and outside the paintings. – states Jessica Stockholder – In relation to both their exposure and internal mechanisms, paintings make use of geometry and its resonance with the scale and form of the human body. (…) Casting a glance through the collections, I was struck by the many works in which the circle and square intersect. Often these works literally feature circles and squares themselves. I began to think of the representation of the human body as a kind of circle within the square, as in Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. The paintings are themselves usually characterized by rectilinear geometries. What happens inside pushes against the edges. The edges are both literal and abstract and are defined by the end of the material support, but the rectangle, identified as a mapping, is understood by virtue of abstraction.”
Combining works of disparate production and origin, the artist investigates the ways of painting and its categorical definitions across genre boundaries, studying its literal and metaphorical edges.
Works range from Directions by Vito Acconci, a photograph documenting the exhausting performance of a man with his arms and legs spread to evoke the Vitruvian Man, to Combustion by Aurelio Amendola, whose shots portray Alberto Burri in the act of melting plastic with a flashlight to create a circle in a square. From Bonded Eternmale, Monica Bonvicini‘s installation of two chairs covered in studded black leather exhibited on a circular red carpet, to A REMOVAL OF THE CORNER OF A RUG IN USE by Lawrence Weiner where written words protrude from the surface of the wall like paint does on his canvas. From 9 to 5 by Edward Ruscha, who painted the time cycle of a working day trapped inside a claustrophobic rectangle to Undercurrent (Red) by Mona Hatoum where the floor surface acts as a pictorial plane for a large carpet of electric cables. And again, among others, the works of Marlene Dumas, Richard Tuttle, Tracey Emin, Diego Perrone, and Jessica Stockholder herself, are exhibited in a display specially designed by the artist who succeeded in transforming the entire exhibition into a work of art in itself, a large environmental installation that evokes, in an experiential form, the clash between the circle and the square as an image of the productive clash between rationality and imagination, order and superabundance, body and idea.
Cut a rug a round square is an opportunity for the public to admire, in complete safety and free of charge, in the spaces of OGR, a treasure preserved by the city’s museums and enriched over the years by the CRT Foundation, with a newfangled interpretation from the point of view of an artist across the works of yet another international collection. The exhibition focuses on the theme of painting, dear to both collections, which have a rich heritage of pictorial works, by taking the cue from one of the most discussed and loved media – even by the more general audience. Cut a rug a round square reshapes the boundaries of this discipline and weaves a discourse that takes from the forms and phantasmagorias of painting, keys to reading the contemporary world, and invites visitors to lose themselves in a world of shapes and colors.
Jessica Stockholder (1959, Seattle, WA. Lives and works in Chicago, Illinois) has exhibited widely in museums and galleries internationally. Her work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums including the Whitney Museum of Art, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago; MoCA Los Angeles; MoMA San Francisco; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The British Museum, London; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Recent solo exhibitions include Stuff Matters at the Central Museum, Utrecht and Relational Aesthetics at The Contemporary Austin, Austin in 2019.
From February 11
Free admission
Thursday and Friday, 3PM – 8PM, last admission 7.30PM
OGR Cult, OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni

OEM Fabricated Parts for Retail Displays

Adidas x ICY PARK

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By: Emily Bunn x Vaughn Lowery

The third collection of the Adidas x IVY PARK collaboration, coolly dubbed “ICY PARK,” is sure to freeze sneakerheads in their tracks in awe. Advertised with snowy slopes and alpine adventures, the collaboration features a host of ultra-chill, fashionable, and inclusive garments and footwear. The new collection sold out almost immediately after its prior internet release on January 25th, and flew off in-store shelves just as quickly. The third Adidas x IVY PARK collection will be released on February 19^th online, and on February 20^th in stores.

The ICY PARK collection includes a variety of outerwear options, as well as five new styles of IVY PARK sneakers. The collection is incredibly inclusive, with a range of clothing size options from XXXS-4X including: women’s tight fit, women’s regular fit, women’s oversized, gender-neutral regular fit and gender-neutral oversized. Further, the expansion of the IVY PARK sneaker line introduces the IVY PARK Ultra Boost, Forum Lo, Forum Mid, and Super Sleek sneakers. Finally, the IVY PARK Super Sleek Boot boasts comfort and ski-ready style.

Further, several apparel and accessories emblazoned with the IVY PARK monogram will also be released in the collection. These include an IVY PARK ski pass, water bottle, lanyard, face cover, and press-on nail polish stickers.

IVY PARK LLC, while a small company consisting of just ten employees, has generated $2.80 million in sales. The owner of the company, Beyonce, has commented in a statement:

“It’s a dream come true to re-launch IVY PARK as the sole owner.”

In 2016, Beyonce had originally partnered with clothing line Topshop, but sexual harassment claims about the company’s owner, Philip Green, caused her to pull the line. Queen Bey regained sole control of IVY PARK after purchasing back shares from Green in 2017, and is now looking toward the company’s future with more optimism than ever. Beyonce’s collaboration with Adidas impressively marks her as the first Black woman to be the sole owner of an athleisure brand.

Beyonce advertised the collection in a commercial with Adidas, in which she wears a jewel-encrusted helmet with light-reflective outerwear garments, among a host of other equally encapsulating outfit choices, mostly revolving around cold weather gear. The shoot also features several shots of snowy mountains, notable artists and models such as Hailey Beiber, Gucci Mane, Kaash Paige, Akesha Murray, Shi Gray, and Kyla Coleman on ski lifts, and Beyonce herself romping around in a whimsical winter wonderland.

Adidas’ collaborations with Kanye and Beyonce have boosted the company’s popularity, threatening Nike with some major clout and competition. Adidas reports that the company predicts the success of IVY PARK will eventually surpass the sales of Kanye’s 2015 Yeezy launch. Senior footwear analyst at NPD Group, Matt Powell, commented on the predicted success of Beyonce’s brand:

“Initially, IVY PARK will be smaller than Yeezy, but IVY PARK has the potential to be larger, if managed properly”, he continues, [the] “best way to build a brand is to have it sell out,” he says. “Scarcity drives demand.”

It is likely that the third IVY PARK collection will sell out as quickly as its first two iterations when it is released on February 19^thvia the Adidas online shop, and February 20^th in stores. To view the collection, please visit Adidas’s website.

PUMA x BLACK FIVES FOUNDATION

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PUMA ANNOUNCES MULTI-YEAR PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BLACK FIVES FOUNDATION IN SUPPORT OF BLACK HISTORY EDUCATION REFORM

Global sports company PUMA is celebrating Black History Month by highlighting the work of Black leaders, partners and community organizations that continue to inspire and shape the future for generations to come.

Throughout the month, PUMA will stand alongside athletes, ambassadors and partners by amplifying their voices and actions across various platforms in support of universal equality, justice and acceptance for all.

To kick off the month, PUMA announced a multi-year partnership with the Black Fives Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, whose mission since 2002 is to research, preserve, showcase, teach and honor the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball. The partnership will raise awareness about this vital history and its pioneering players, teams and contributors through initiatives that make a difference, as well as feature special apparel and footwear collections with popular PUMA styles including vintage graphics and logos maintained by the Foundation’s trademarked slogan, “Make History Now.”

“I’m proud and honored to partner with PUMA toward making a meaningful, long-lasting difference in expanding Black history education to include the pioneering African American teams, players, and contributors who helped pave the way for today’s game,” said Founder and Executive Director of the Black Fives Foundation Claude Johnson.

PUMA, together with the Black Fives Foundation, will help support the Foundation’s preservation and education efforts through creative activations that include an engaging, multi-use online museum to display its archive of historical artifacts and content from the Black Fives Era. The Black Fives Foundation’s Virtual Vault, presented by PUMA, will be an online portal for visitors to see, learn, and be inspired by the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball through nearly 1,000 artifacts in the Foundation’s historical archive. Items include vintage equipment, ticket stubs, game gear, images, scorecards and more. The Virtual Vault is set to launch later this year.

Also this month, PUMA will be giving back to the Harlem community with partner AfroBrutality, hosting conversations with current and former athletes around activism in sport through their #REFORM platform and more.

The first PUMA x Black Fives collection will include popular PUMA styles including vintage graphics and logos maintained by the Foundation’s trademarked slogan “Make History Now.” Five unique silhouettes will be featured in the collection including a hoodie, short sleeve and long sleeve tee, pants and shorts all in a black and cream color palette.

Retailing for $45 – $90 the PUMA x Black Fives Foundation clothing collection will be available on PUMA.com and at the PUMA NYC Flagship Store on Friday, February 12^th. PUMA and Black Fives will also be releasing a forthcoming footwear collection this spring.

The partnership, which supports Black History education reform and the Foundation’s preservation and education efforts through creative activations, including an engaging, multi-use online museum to display its archives of historical artifacts and content from the Black Fives Era, will also include the release of footwear later this year.

For more information, please visit PUMA’s website and the partner page.

About PUMA

PUMA is one of the world’s leading Sports Brands, designing, developing, selling and marketing footwear, apparel and accessories. For more than 70 years, PUMA has relentlessly pushed sport and culture forward by creating fast products for the world’s fastest athletes. PUMA offers performance and sport-inspired lifestyle products in categories such as Football, Running and Training, Basketball, Golf, and Motorsports. It collaborates with renowned designers and brands to bring sport influences into street culture and fashion. The PUMA Group owns the brands PUMA, Cobra Golf and stichd. The company distributes its products in more than 120 countries, employs more than 16,000 people worldwide, and is headquartered in Herzogenaurach/Germany. To learn more visit their website.

About The Black Fives Foundation

The Greenwich, CT-based Black Fives Foundation is a 501(c)3 public charity whose mission is to research, preserve, showcase, teach, and honor the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball, a period known as the Black Fives Era that lasted from the early 1900s to 1950 when the NBA signed its first Black players. The organization advocates expanding Black history education to amplify and include this important history, utilizing nearly 1,000 related artifacts in its historical archive as well as a portfolio of related intellectual property and other difference-making initiatives. For more information, please visit their website.

SWIZZ BEATZ SWITCHES TO ASCAP

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ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the world leader in performing rights and advocacy for music creators, today announced that internationally acclaimed Grammy-winning songwriter-producer and global entrepreneur Kasseem Dean, aka Swizz Beatz, has moved to ASCAP. Known for his work on songs including DMX’s “Ruff Ryders Anthem,” T.I.’s “Bring Em Out,” Lil Wayne’s “Uproar,” Mýa’s “The Best of Me” and more, the megaproducer is also the co-creator of Verzuz, the livestreaming music battle series and cultural phenomenon he started in early 2020 with Timbaland.

“Swizz Beatz’s talent as a songwriter-producer is second to none. The music he has created over the last two decades reached the heights of the hip-hop, R&B and rap charts and continues to endure,” said John Titta, ASCAP Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer. “From his classic late-90s records with Ruff Ryders to Verzuz, Swizz Beatz’s talent has made him one of the greatest producers and music creatives around today. We are so happy to welcome him to the ASCAP family.”

“I’m excited to be back with the ASCAP family,” said Swizz. “They have always fought hard for songwriters and in times like these, they are an incredibly important source of support for music creators. I’m looking forward to working with the ASCAP team to give back to the culture and the creative community.”

Swizz Beatz has been in the music and business world since he was 16. He began deejaying and working at his uncle’s company, Ruff Ryder Records, while still in high school. Within a short time, Swizz produced the company’s first hit, by DMX. More success followed–as a producer and artist. At 23, Swizz founded his own record label, Full Surface Records, with Clive Davis and earned a Grammy Award at the age of 33. As a producer, Swizz has worked with a diverse range of artists and some of the biggest names in the world including Jay-Z, Madonna, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Metallica, contributing to the sale of over 350 million records sold worldwide.

A recent graduate of Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management Program, Swizz’s talents and success extend well beyond music. He is an innovative fashion designer, collaborating with Bally, Reebok, Christian Louboutin, Aston Martin, Lotus, and Audemar Piguet. In 2015, he joined global spirit giant Bacardi as their Global Chief Creative for Culture, overseeing more than 300 brands within the company’s portfolio. An art collector since his 20s, he launched The Dean Collection in 2014, a discovery zone for art enthusiasts who appreciate art not just from the greats but also from aspiring and new artists alike.

Swizz is actively involved in many charities, with a particular focus on children: he works closely with his wife Alicia Keys’s organization Keep A Child Alive to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa; he adopted the Bronx Charter School for the Arts; is the Global Ambassador for New York City’s HHC (Health and Hospitals Corporation); serves on the board of Children’s Rights, which provides legal services to foster children to protect their rights; and currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Museum.

About ASCAP

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP’s mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world’s best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business–from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With more than 800,000 members representing more than 11.5 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and is the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. Learn more and stay in touch at on their website, Twitter and Instagram and Facebook.

Taby Launches The Digital Street

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The traditionally physical medium comes to an online platform, featuring cutting edge artists from around the world.

Taby, a powerful new digital player in the art gallery scene, is proud to announce the launch of its second exhibition, The Digital Street. Conceived with the pandemic as a backdrop, Taby’s curator Emerson Radisich has carefully selected works from an international group of artists that are vibrant representations of our times. The new exhibition touches on several themes: the emotional reflections of dealing with the post-COVID era, the blending of our everyday lives with the digital realm, and thoughtful geo-political commentary, to name a few surface points.

The Digital Street engages the viewer on several levels, whether it’s the symbols of the collective unconscious tapped into by Polish artist Karifurava, representing our inner world, or the brutal honesty of Judy Rhum’s quarantine series, demonstrating the outward reality of how the structure of our daily lives has changed.

In keeping with Taby’s tradition of exhibitions benefiting charities associated with the theme of each show, CEO Mo Al Khater has selected Street Art For Mankind (SAM) as this exhibit’s recipient. SAM produces large murals, interactive exhibitions and live performances to support human rights and bond communities across the planet. The charity primarily focuses on fighting against child labor & trafficking and funding raid and rescue programs through the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation.

Show Description

Graffiti and street art is an ever-expanding and popular genre of artmaking that has found an increased role and dedicated significance during the coronavirus pandemic. It is a practice that has evolved entirely within the public realm, and often comes with the capacity to challenge, critique and contort both public places and public knowledge. At a time where museums, galleries and institutions have closed their doors, street artists have remained steadfast in their craft, and many artists from other genres have migrated to the medium to be able to continue to share work publicly.

Muralism today has seeped into many services throughout the art world; significant institutions regularly exhibit street art and graffiti shows, with artists such Banksy and KAWS–now household names who routinely break sales records at auction houses, and the aesthetic of graffiti is embedded in our society and spans advertising through to technical inclusions in fine artist’s practices, a process often referred to as Post-Graffiti.

Digital artmaking is no exception – several highly stylized comics, illustrators, designers and artists have appropriated the specific aesthetic qualities of graffiti and mark making, as well as the pursuit’s capacity to critique and challenge norms. The Digital Street seeks to examine these qualities through the works of artists globally. It presents an array of artmaking which utilizes digital reproduction in a graffiti-influenced style, and demonstrates a range of artists who openly critique the world around them within this particular practice – ultimately showcasing the beauty and necessity for graffiti in today’s climate.

The Digital Street features 18 works from 6 artists working around the globe:

Karifurava, Poland: is a Polish graphic designer, illustrator and fine artist currently based in Warsaw. Influenced by contemporary Eastern graphic designers and illustrators such as Keiichi Tanaami, his bold and colorful works explore mysticism, neo-religion, and the magical. Karifurava has exhibited extensively across the globe at galleries including Backwoods Gallery, Australia, and venues including VIKTAC, Poland.
Judy Rhum, Milan: a graffiti artist, illustrator and lecturer currently based in Milan. Her works are lucid and ludic, combining a playful and illustrative feel into the monumental platform that is graffiti. They are slick: graffiti with layered breakdowns, expanded geometric shapes and purposeful abstraction. Rhum is also the co-founder of Drinchendro, a Milan-based arts program.
Tom Gerrard, Australia: a graphic designer cum fine artist currently based in Melbourne, Australia. His unique practice involves the painting of simple characters, architecture and nature through a minimal color palette, where his works are often inspired by people he has met and places he has visited. Gerrard has exhibited work extensively across the globe at galleries including Stolen Space, London, RVCA, Tokyo and 1xRUN, Detroit.
Morris Vogel, Switzerland: a self-taught fine artist and illustrator currently based in Basel, Switzerland. Vogel examines surreal manifestations of politics, existentialism, awareness and human nature through a highly stylized black and white drawing style. His works have been exhibited at Kunsthallekleinbasel, Switzerland, Cvijeta Zuzorić Art Pavilion, Serbia and YOPE project space, Mexico.
Indie184 is a New York-based artist who has been active in graffiti culture for over 2 decades. Influenced by abstract expressionism and pop art, her paintings are raptures of color and textures. Fused with her original graffiti and street art, imagery, and designs juxtaposed with personal messages, Indie’s art has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, including El Museo del Barrio, New York and Völklingen Ironworks Museum, Saarbrücken, Germany.
Nini Sum is a mixed-media artist based in Shanghai, China. Her work depicts urban scenery and characters from everyday life in a captivating and surreal setting, which is strongly influenced by modern city life and eastern philosophy. The form of Nini’s work varies from silkscreen prints and mural paintings, to collage on canvas and album art. She is also the founder of IdleBeats, China’s first independent screen-printing studio.

About Taby

Taby is a premium digital art gallery specializing in contemporary art. We provide several rolling digital exhibitions throughout the year which bring together hand-selected quality artworks under a specific curatorial theme. Taby only exhibits exclusive, limited edition artworks, shipped to your door, which are designed and manufactured to the highest quality. Our objective is to provide every customer with an exceptional piece of art that is ready to hang as soon as it is unpacked. Alongside every digital exhibition, Taby also selects a charity related to the theme of that exhibition, which then receives a portion of our revenue.

Taby is a global team. We are artists, curators and seasoned collectors who have developed exhibitions and worked with galleries all over the world. Our mission is to make choosing and collecting contemporary art as simple as possible; this is why we provide ready to hang artworks through our premium printing, stretching and framing service, offering bespoke curatorial services so that every client is able to find an artist and artwork to match their collection, and partner with a range of specialists to select the best artists for each theme and series. We look forward to serving you.

ORSON WILDS SHARE STRIPPED-BACK VERSIONS OF “STAND UP” & “MOTHERS DAUGHTERS”

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After releasing their debut singles “Stand Up” and “Mothers Daughters,” Canadian duo Orson Wilds has pared down the grandiosity of the tracks, releasing stripped-back versions of each. Together, the reimagined tracks showcase Orson Wilds’ raw talent and their ability to scale the group’s size back while still maintaining the potency of their songwriting. Both acoustic cuts are available now on all streaming platforms, while the acoustic version of “Mothers Daughters”; is joined by a new music video streaming on the band’s YouTube channel.

In its original form, “Stand Up” was called “the kind of song that sounds like it’s trying to get a whole amphitheater’s worth of people on their feet” by The Alternative, while FLOOD Magazine said that the “Mothers Daughters” video finds “the Canadian duo is doing everything they can to be added to your must-see list once venues start opening back up.”

The studio versions of “Mothers Daughters” and “Stand Up” were both recorded and produced by Will Yip (Panic! At The Disco, Turnstile, Title Fight), and will be included on the band’s forthcoming debut album expected to arrive later this year. Released in December, the band’s debut single “Stand Up” is already closing in on one million streams globally. The track was commended by Uproxx, Northern Transmissions, and The Alternative upon its release, with Uproxx declaring it “one of the most anthemic indie rock jams since Arcade Fire dropped Wake Up.” Both tracks are available now on all streaming platforms. Watch the official video for “Stand Up” here and “Mothers Daughters” here.

Orson Wilds, fronted by Eric Reid and Brianna Bordihn, have only played a handful of shows in the Southern Ontario area, focusing mainly on the honing of their craft and sound. This hard work paid off when Yip, an enthusiastic producer with bustling industry savvy, was so taken by the compositional strength of Orson Wilds’ songs that he took the band under his wing, helped them produce two new singles, and signed them to his imprint. Though Reid and Bordihn represent the core of Orson Wilds, an ever-evolving collective of friends and family round out the live iteration of the band with stomping uplifting electric guitars, horns and woodwind sections, and thrashing, urgent percussion.

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