We Love You So – Where The Wild Things Are – Spike Jonze

The hardest part of writing a blog post about multimedia artist Carl Kleiner is choosing which pictures to share. Since nearly everything he makes is stunningly beautiful, it’s difficult to determine which images best highlight his genius. Should I post his photographs of everyday objects arranged to produce mind-melting geometric shapes? What about his graceful and stirring series of paper airplane photos? And then there’s the creepy life-size Barbie dolls haunting the uncanny valley with their human faces, and the cute series of self-portraits that features Kleiner trimming his Parent Trap-style imaginary twin’s moustache. And his playfully odd yet classy fashion photography! It’s all so brilliant– so stop reading my gushing hyperbole and go see for yourself.

I came across divine t-shirt designer Milton Carter’s site through an interview he conducted with The Fiery Furnaces’ graphic designer, Mike Reddy (Reddy’s work is rad too– especially his illustrated interpertation of the aforementioned band’s Blueberry Boat record). Carter’s t-shirts and bags are explicitly nautical, tropical, mellow and beachy, exuding an air of respect towards the natural world. With Ed Hardy T-shirts littering the fashion landscape, graphic T’s in general have become increasingly scrutinized– but luckily Carter’s work never crosses over into cheaply ironic or needlessly ostentatious territory, favoring simplicity in design over pointless rococco flair.

Hello, Brute is the brainchild of Portland-based designer Jon Knox. Employing a cast of adorably droopy-eyed pseudo-anthropomorphic fashion-forward young fellas, Knox has constructed a veritable universe of saccharine saturated sherbet-colored cuteness. Through pencil drawings, paintings, skate decks, t-shirts and limited edition toys, Knox’s characters are poised to take over the world, Takashi Murakami-style. Hello, Brute is like the hipster Precious Moments, minus the greeting card platitudes and creationist undertones. Check out this rad recent Hello, Brute release: a pair of wild thing-esque custom toys sculpted by Toronto creature-makers We Kill You.