Jonathan Viner, the artist, calls the collection harem, and the pieces are oils on 12"x12" panels.

[Sloan Fine Art , Prints available through store.vinerstudio.com]

JONATHAN VINER: "HAREM"
Exhibition: June 20 through July 18, 2009
Reception: Saturday, June 20th, 4 to 6pm

With "Harem" Jonathan Viner touches on a variety of issues including the urge to possess rare specimens and organize them into collections, the intense but fleeting power of youthful beauty, and the growing appetite for material and status in a globalized world. Never one to be too heavy handed, he prompts the viewer to consider these topics with elegant subtlety.

On its surface, "Harem" is a group of ten portraits of young Russian women, each one apparently alone, nude, and listening to vintage, high fidelity headphones. Upon further consideration, the tight, close up compositions, leash-like headphone chords, and ambivalent facial expressions give us a sense that these women are perhaps unwilling captives. But their relaxed postures, soft surroundings, and vague facial expressions convey an atmosphere of calm and comfort. This contradiction is embodied by the headphones themselves, which isolate and tether these harem girls while simultaneously providing them with enriching, faithfully reproduced sounds.

Each work stands alone - a solitary, frozen specimen. But when presented together, with their uniform size and similar palette, within the confines of a small space, they convey the feeling of a coveted collection.

A native New Yorker, Jonathan Viner earned his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. This project will be his third solo exhibition in New York.

Running concurrently with "Harem," in the front gallery, is "+2" a group show with small works by 66 artists.

That's right, you make any surface doodle-ready with a few coats of paint. It's perfect for offices, kids rooms, the fridge or backsplash in the kitchen—anywhere that it might be useful to jot things down. Hell, you could coat an entire room and put up crazy artwork. The possibilities are endless. And the best part is that you can request a free sample from the website—although purchasing enough for a project is going to run you about $4 per square foot. [IdeaPaint via Apartment Therapy]

SEE A SPLASH OF 'POPBANG' COLOUR ON THE CHEVROLET MOTOR SHOW STAND!

- Unique Chevrolet Camaro painting wows crowds at British International Motor Show
- Paintings created with remote control cars
- Live demonstration on Sunday August 3

Visitors to the British International Motor Show will be able to check out unique renderings of a pair of very special cars on the Chevrolet stand.

The paintings, of the Camaro Convertible and Beat concept cars – both of which are the stars of the Chevrolet stand, are the work of 25-year old artist Ian Cook from Solihull, West Midlands. But instead of creating the images with a simple paintbrush, Ian used a somewhat unique method of artistry.

The images were created using remote control cars driven through acrylic paints, with further detail added by using old car tyres. As well as cars, Ian has also painted some famous figures from the world of motoring using the same method, including Lord Montagu of Beaulieu and F1 ace Lewis Hamilton.

"I wanted to be an artist from a young age and decided that to be successful I needed something completely unique," said Ian. "I've always been mad about anything with wheels and I figured that using cars to paint cars would capture peoples' imaginations, so I experimented at home by driving some remote control models through paint."

Ian, who calls his art Popbang Colour, used a host of replica GM cars to create the Camaro, including three models of the Camaro Concept itself, live on the show's opening day. He also created an image of the Beat minicar concept, both of which will be on display in the Chevrolet Drivers' Lounge for the duration of the show.

But those who want to see Ian create a masterpiece in person should pop along to the Motor Show, at London's Excel exhibition centre, Docklands, on the final day of the event – Sunday August 3 – from 10.00am.

There, Ian will be using his unique painting method to create an image of British racing star Rob Huff's Chevrolet Lacetti World Touring Car, a week after the series visits the UK for its annual visit to Brands Hatch.

"I can't wait to get started on the racing car," said Ian. "With the intricate liveries and body kits, competition cars require an extra level of detail, and that's where you need skill with the remote control cars."

One thing's for certain – Ian's next creation is sure to go with a bang. Or maybe even a pop...

The inventor's story is an interesting one, involving thousands of hours of lab trial and error, as well as international military interest in his product...that far outshined the response from his own country's military.

But apparently the most promising and equitable use for such a paint could be civilian. Airport towers and buildings have a long history of interfering with flight control radars. And to simply make them disappear would be quite useful—as opposed to calling hangar 12 in for a landing or something. [Spiegel Online via NewLaunches][image]

Touching the car electrocutes you. A small amount of current is always needed to maintain the arrangement of iron oxide (your custom car color). So when you leave your car parked/off, the car turns white. Now imagine your white car times 5000 during your next IKEA excursion. Yeah, it'll be like Florida, everywhere you go.

CORRECTION: This is not Nissan technology, they merely viewed a demo. [nextenergynews]

Fantachrome, while not really chrome, is a spray-on, water-based paint that adds a layer of metal to your object of choice (car, house, children) and is said to look and feel just like chrome. While the process requires prep work like washing the object in distilled water and laying proper base coats, Fantachrome will work on almost any material, including wood, metal, plaster, glass, plastic, fiberglass, ceramic, cement, polystyrene, clay and stone. You can essentially chrome anything—like King Midas Fast and the Furious edition.

So if you could chrome anything, what would it be? I''d chrome my KitchenAid mixer and fridge. Then when some Sub-Zero owner came over I'd be like, "You have a Sub-Zero? Never heard of it. Ohh, that's right. Poor man's chrome! That's what I call it generally." [fantachrome via redferret]

As you can see from the gallery, not only can you have Colorware color your console, but they'll even paint the controllers as well. You have to ship them your console for the process—unless of course you buy an entirely new one—but it's sure to come back looking better than ever. Then, if you really want a 120GB hard drive, you can go ahead and install your own hard drive and save $100. As for HDMI, there's supposedly a faux HDMI cable due out for non-Elite Xbox 360s soon. No 1080p, but you do get to use HDMI.

Check out the gallery to see all the gorgeous details. – Jason Chen

Gallery [Gizmodo]

Product Page [Colorware]

EM-SEC says they successfully tested the paint in their labs. Perhaps our British friends might benefit from bathing in this paint. – Louis Ramirez

Press Release [via Reg Hardware]

As one of Gizmodo's resident projector-o-philes I'm still not sold on a product like this. The Mighty Brighty "projection screen paint" begins at $190 and goes all the way up to $580 for the "premium kit." –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via OhGizmo!]

Reader Jason sends in this heat-changing paint from Alsa Corp. By applying a certain type of Eclipse paint, the finish will change from one color to another—white to blue, black to green, black to Apple Red Candy—whenever heat is applied.

Splashing this on your shirt and re-living the late '80s aside, the paint has a few interesting applications. Jason notes of placing these on a case or a laptop so you can know which parts of the system is the hottest. There's also uses in sinks, bathtubs, and walls, for telling the temperature at a glance. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Alsa Corp - Thanks Jason!]

Color Changing Wall Paints [mavromatic]

Sto Lotusan — Biomimicry Paint [Treehugger]