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Keba Konte’s 888 Show Montages Hip-Hop & Beyond

Yeah, yeah, apparently there’s some fancy sporting event that opened somewhere in Asia this past Friday, but a little closer to home, a very dope art exhibit bowed on 8/8/08 as well. Over at the Oakland Art Gallery, renowned Bay Area photomontage artist Keba Konte just opened his latest exhibit “888 Pieces of We: A Photo Memoir.”

The San Francisco native worked as a rap shutterbug in the early ’90s during hip-hop’s Golden Era and later made a bunch of the flicks into “art” by cementing the images on unconventional wooden surfaces (headboards, dressers, ironing boards etc.). The resulting photomontages (including Tupac, E-40, X-Clan, and a child playing in Johannesburg Cemetary) are both eerie and nostalgic. The exhibit features (you guessed it) 888 of his pieces and runs through September. See a gallery from the show below.

Spying On NYC’s Rich People’s Rooftops

It’s the first rule of the paparazzi: there’s nothing wrong with violating the privacy of the rich and famous—in fact, they expect it. Over at Flickr, a photographer named jwilly put up a bunch of Big Apple pics entitled “nyc-travails.” One of his latest is “Rich People Rooftops NYC” and it features…you guessed it, photos of some of the dopest rooftop spaces in the city.

Posted up on surrounding buildings (either that or bopping around town with his jet pack), jwilly examines the supposedly hidden living space of the upper crust. Our only regret is that there are no pics of gazillionaire housewives sunbathing topless. See a gallery of his best flicks below, including the penthouse of the Soho Grand.

Tony Ariawan’s Psychedelic Vector Girls

Just for argument’s sake, let’s say you gobble up a bunch of acid and ecstasy and head downtown on a hot summer night to look at girls. What would the chicks look like? Probably a lot like this collection of photo/drawings by the Indonesia-based artist Tony Ariawan called “Stop Haunt Me Everyday.”

Using a vector program and Photoshop, Ariawan manipulates his own photos to create these images that resemble what females might look like if they were made out of molten steel. He named the collection “Stop Haunt Me Everyday” because it’s inspired by “the girl who always came across my mind, every time and every day.” Since we know you’d never do drugs, check out a gallery of Ariawan’s images below.

‘Night Vision’ Photo Book Says Yes To Trespassing

If you’ve been itching to hop a fence in the middle of the night to explore America’s abandoned wastelands but haven’t had your tetanus shot, then a new photo book, Night Vision: The Art Of Urban Exploration, should provide plenty of vicarious viewing. Photographer Troy Paiva has a simple, albeit really creepy, steez: break into abandoned military bases, junkyards, and train stations and take flicks using only colored strobes and available light (i.e. illuminated by the moon).

The resulting images—a hotel used for WWII interrogations, chairs at a shuttered train station in Oakland, a trashed arcade game in a even more trashed roadside motel—look like something out of a Coen Brothers x M. Night Shyamalan collabo (if Shyamalan actually made cool shit again). Order a copy of the book here or check out more Night Vision images after the jump.

Peter Ruprecht Opens Splashlight Studios Soho

Tomorrow, award-winning photographer and filmmaker Peter Ruprecht is unveiling his new project entitled “Monadic Nomad” for the opening of the new Splashlight Studios location in SoHo. We got the inside track on Ruprecht when he shot the sexy models for the Ecko Manufacturing campaign, but the Argentinian artist is now focusing his attention on a more down to earth subject.

The exhibit features over forty striking photographs (printed on hand-made paper) from a trip to India, where Ruprecht focused on everything from the people to the bold landscape. All proceeds from the exhibit will go back to building freshwater wells and cleaning up parts of India. During a recent visit to the office, Peter discussed the inspiration behind the project and gave us a peek at the post production of enhancing his photos. Watch the quick video clip below.

Lamp Girls Shed Light On The Upskirt

Breast men have long admired “headlights” on a lady, but now French photographer Marianne Maric has shed some light down below with her “Filles Lampes (Lamp Girls)” series. A video of the Lamp Girls debuted earlier this year at Paris’ Galerie Magda Danysz
, where it was part of an exhibit called “Under My Skin” that examined our relationships to our bodies.

The point of the art project was to flip the idea of women serving as objects by portraying them as actual ones—in this case, lamps. But if you ask us, it’s also a fitting expression of the way that a beautiful woman can light up a room…you know, by exposing her vagina. Prepare to be blinded by the photo gallery after the jump.

See Jeremy Fish’s Story In ‘Once Upon A Time’

The Fourth of July weekend is supposed to be about cookouts, fireworks, and sharking, but if you’ve had enough outdoor fun and want to post up at the crib with a good book, you could do worse than Jeremy Fish’s latest, Once Upon A Time…

The SF-based artist/skate mogul/Aesop Rock pal has compiled some of his favorite drawings, photographs, and paintings in a leather-bound tome that retails for $50. Highlights include a foreword by the aforementioned Def Juxer and a section devoted to photos of people who’ve gotten tatted up with Fish’s work. Pick it up at Upper Playground stores or online and check a few pages from the book after the jump.

Photo Book Exposes Phone Sex Operators

The age-old problem with any kind of virtual sex—phone, cyber, telegraph—is that you can’t actually see who you’re talking to. But would you really want to? Behind those sexy voices are real people, who are now being revealed in the new photography book by Phillip Toledano called Phone Sex. In the coffee-table book, all of the operators divulge some anecdote or philosophy they’ve gained while on the job. Read the thick lady above’s confessional after the jump, and see more eye-opening photos from the book that drops in July.

Furry Kama Sutra Brings Out Our Animal Instinct

After Entourage’s Turtle and Johnny Drama had a run in with a pink bunny suit last summer, it seems like furry sex is all the rage. You know, sometimes you’ve gotta throw the ’ol chicken suit on your girl and give her a good pluckin’. Perfectly natural.

Well now, New York-based photographer Michael Cogliantry is showing off his Furry Kama Sutra photos with a new exhibit. For the series, he shot his costumed subjects in some of Las Vegas’ most colorful “by the hour” rooms in a tribute to the classic Indian sex guide. Unfortunately, the limited edition photo book with white furry cover is sold out, but you can catch his work this Friday at the Nemo Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Check out Cogliantry’s website for background, or check out more hot furry action after the jump.

Perks and Mini and Friends Tour Italy In New Photo Book

Often, a designer’s inspiration comes from the strangest places—most of which you probably wouldn’t want to visit. But for the design collective known as the Changes, their recent tour of Italy during Milan Design Week was worth a slideshow. Hoping to give fans a look at the trip’s offbeat flavor, they’ve compiled a series of photos in a new book called ITALIENS.

In case you’re wondeirng, the Changes consists of the creative force behind Australian clothing line Perks and Mini plus Fergadelic from Tonite UK, and Japan’s revered Skatething from BBC/IceCream. They all snapped photos of odd sightings for a coffee-table style book that should be shared over PBR’s rather than Café Aú Lait. It’s now available for purchase here, but check out a few crazy images from the book after the jump if you aren’t convinced.