In just over a month, June 24th to be exact, audiences around the world will be treated to the latest battle for earth between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is one of the biggest budget movies on the summer sched. There is more robot eye candy than you can shake a stick at, with bigger, badder machines than ever before. Bay has been criticized for playing coy about which robots we’ll see in this latest episode, and he’s gone toe to toe with the creators of Terminator Salvation, stating that their larger than life bots are a clear ripoff of his blood, sweat and tears.

IMDB perpetuates the hype with the following synopsis (spoilers ahead): “The battle for Earth has ended but the battle for the universe has just begun. After returning to Cybertron, Starscream assumes command of the Decepticons, and has decided to return to Earth with force. The Autobots believing that peace was possible finds out that Megatron’s dead body has been stolen from the US Military by Skorpinox and revives him using his own spark. Now Megatron is back seeking revenge and with Starscream and more Decepticon reinforcements on the way, the Autobots with reinforcements of their own, may have more to deal with then meets the eye.” Until we’ve had a chance to screen it, the jury can’t weigh in on the plot.

La Mosca is a graphic design studio located in Barcelona, Spain. They produce identity schemes,
exhibition graphics, magazine layouts and have a penchant for infographics. You might have seen
their work in publications such as Monocle, Wired and La Vanguardia. A few of our favorites below, but be sure to check out their space online for more wonderful examples of La Mosca’s craft.

In late April, Mark Brown held his first solo exhibit entitled ‘The Lost MacGuffin’ at LA’s Gallery 1988. This series has a rich and well developed plot, which he explains as follows: “the story starts with a painting of the devil running. Actually he’s just escaped from the Crow King, with the help of the Octangel. See, it’s all because the Devil has stolen that book from the King. Actually, the Devil is part of a Secret Order sworn to protect the book from people like the Crow King, so he had to do it. And now the Crow King, fuming over the stolen property, sent out his crow henchmen, lead by the Top Hatted Magician Crow as their boss, obviously. They just about had our Devil, when the Crow produced the deck of tarot cards and is now playing the Hanged Man card. Also in pursuit of the book, since the King needed insurance when dealing with the Secret Order, are The Bunch Of Paper Men. The King cuts out chains of them from paper, sending them on commando missions like this one. They sometimes stop and pick up rocks. They really hate scissors.”

“It’s a cold October day out, so it’s not easy to run, and the breath, visible from the devil’s mouth is freezing into some strange foreshadowing. The polar bear with the third eye and four arms is juggling 5 painted balls, where each ball represents a character from the main story you experience when seeing the entire art show. So you know in advance, those 5 characters are The Crow King and The Wrestler With The Inflatable Head, The Girl Who Catches Fire, the TV Headed Guy, and our main hero, Our Boy. The Bear is also wearing the Surprisingly Handy Key, which can open pretty much any lock – so that’s not a problem. The book in question is a great and powerful relic and a symbol of how we all feel (or at least I do) whenever we flip through a children’s encyclopedia from the 50′s or 60′s.”

Have you ever heard of mercy cards? Created by Set, they’re the best way to stop a argument with that special someone. The cards display messages such as “I am in a bad mood and taking it out on you”, “Never ever bring this up again”,and our personal favourite “Shut your mouth and take off your clothes.” On second though these cards just might make the argument worse, but hey, they could also work on your sweetie, or on that friend who’s perpetually in a bad mood.

Archann Nair describes himself as a 26 year old self developed artist, multi-disciplinary designer and illustrator. Based out of New Delhi, India, Archan now is the cofounder and creative head of a design and art agency, Cropped Circles. Specializing in art direction, illustration, and digital art, he has produced quality illustrations and design projects for many brands including: Pepsi, Tiger Beer, GQ etc… He has been featured in publications such as Advanced Photoshop, Vanity Fair, Juxtapoz and has also worked with the likes of Kanye West.

Archan’s vision and passion has been to create highly intricate work inspired by various phases or moments of life, and the rest so to speak can be seen in his works. Unfortunately his portfolio does not include a prints for sale, however we were able to find many of them for purchase through his DeviantArt page. For additional insight into this creative mind, be sure to check out Archan’s new blog.

Beach Bellow is a collapsible beach chair which helps to make beach trips much more fun and relaxing. It draws inspiration from a regular bellow and is made of silicon rubber supported by spring steel members. Beach bellow is a youthful and fun chair which is easy to carry, store and use. The two sides of bellow can be either used for lying down or sitting. Beach bellow helps reduce the burden of carrying heavy chairs to the beach, and has distinct bright colours so you won’t lose yours in the crowd. As neat as they look, I’m not sure how great they would feel in the sun. Unfortunately these are not yet available for purchase, nor is there an estimated retail price.

Munk One is an illustrator and designer based in LA who uses creative expression to dialogue on contemporary culture and politics, in a unique way. With a graphically pleasing style that ranges from beautiful to morose and plays with the lines that lie in between, Munk’s work has become iconic among urban culture today. Regarding his inspiration, Munk One states: “Most often it’s music, dreams, pop culture, politics and the constant urge to bring out what’s going on in my mind to this reality that inspires me to create. It’s fun. It’s like I know I only have a limited amount of time to create in this lifetime, so each design, drawing or sketch is very important to me, almost like I’m trying to beat the clock.”

Munk One’s work often focuses on politics, in which case his goal is “…to get people talking. I’m, by no means, a political analyst, but I do think we live in a society where we have much more power to make a difference in our government and lives than people in other countries do. I’d like to see more people paying attention and at least having a conversation about what is going on in the world. One reason I did the Obama art is that I feel that he beleives in having dialogue. Even though we might differ in opinions, we can still come together as one to find solutions to the challenges this generation faces.” See the complete interview here.

For over 20 years The Simpsons have featured celebrity voice actors on their show. But oftentimes it’s the unauthorized celebrity appearances that make the biggest splash. Since the first season of Southpark, Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny have also shared the screen with the likes of Barbra Streisand, Tom Cruise, Hillary Clinton, Michael Jackson and the list goes on. The defining characteristic of a guest spot on Southpark is that celebutants are harshly parodied, so you can imagine that they do not always approve of their “performance”. For example, rumor has it that Tom Cruise pressured studio executives not to re-air the episode where he refused to ‘come out of the closet’, going so far as to threaten a boycott against Mission Impossible 3.

But this isn’t about space monsters or Tom Cruise, rather we’re focusing in on another humongous ego: Kanye West. Kanye is notorious for far more than his music and sense of style, as he is sometimes outspoken, and often labeled as cocky, and a poor sport. With heaps of ammo, the creators of Southpark inserted Mr. West into an episode featuring the infamous fish sticks joke (you can get the gist of it here). The best part of the ordeal is that Kanye responded on his blog, citing some hurt feelings as well as acknowledging his oft inflated sense of awesomeness. He also praised them for taking the time to draw his stylish entourage, and we have to agree that they are pretty bang on.

Zutto is a 25 year old illustrator and graphic designer from Russia, who lives in Miass, a small city surrounded by mountains. Miass is an industrial city that is not interesting in and of itself, however the natural surroundings serve as Zutto’s inspiration. As a result of the hundreds of lakes and seemingly endless forests, some people refer to this place as the “Golden Valley”. Whatever you call it, it looks as though Zutto found some magical fungus in the forest, because his interpretation of his surroundings is out of this world.

On his process, and the definition of his work, Zutto states: “I draw some small worlds that appear in my head. There’s always something there, an image which wants to be expressed. I can simply sit in front of a sketchbook or my computer and the pictures are drawn by themselves. It’s not easy for me to express it in words. My works is simply a way to communicate with people.”

The Economist is a well known publication that has commissioned some truly unbelievable talent to produce their covers over the years. In light of the economic downturn, changing of the guard, and fall of the modern-day Rome, their late March edition shows the stark reality of “How China sees the World”. Views from the Imperial Palace and Tianannem Square, show lady liberty with her hand out for donations, as well as the black hole that is Wall Street. Other than America, their view of Africa and South America illustrates resource-rich continents that are ripe for harvest. It’s a sober perspective from this emerging superpower, which makes us wonder where the west went wrong?

Sydney-based artist, James Jirat Patradoon, makes giant candy coloured screenprints and posters. According to his bio, he has always dreamt of joining the X-men, or becoming Ultraman, or Dracula, or a Lucha Libre pro wrestler. On his career defining moment: “If I could trace my artistic inspiration back to one event, it would have to be the Neo Tokyo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2001. I had never seen art like that before; I didn’t know you could be so playful with it. I vividly remember the Yoshitomo Nara sculptures made out of bandages, and Kenji Yanobe’s atom suit and Godzilla/Astro Boy sculptures that blew bubbles. It was just so fun. I think because a lot of Japanese art contains references to pop culture, it’s more accessible for audiences. They aren’t so intimidated by it because it can be quite light-hearted but still have a serious undertone to it.”