Jesse Hora has never ceased to amaze us by consistently producing eye-popping illustrations, and the Spear Collective member has a steady track record when it comes to wowing us with artistic ability. His latest site update keeps that streak intact by adding some superb apparel design work including his sweet Jail Break design for Clandestine Industries and Summer Shades tee for Warner + Reprise Records. Check it out for yourself, we’re sure you’ll want to soak up his creations and make them your very own.

The word “blanket” represents far more than a piece of cloth that keeps you warm at night or the bizarre nickname for Michael Jackson’s pseudo-son. It’s also a groundbreaking online publication that serves to “uncover new, emerging and established designers/ artists/ photographers, showcase their talent and give them a vehicle for self promotion.” In the spirit of that mission, the folks behind the online artist colony of sorts that is Blanket Magazine have just released a limited edition collector’s edition poster featuring the work of fifty-six artists from all over the world. The poster cleverly resembles a patchwork blanket wherein each individual square features the designs of a specific artist. Included in the melange of masterworks are creations by the likes of Andrio Abero, Jesse LeDoux and the Spear Collective’s own Jesse Hora. Every limited edition poster arrives in a distinct sleeve with an origami fold that houses a reference guide to all of the poster’s fifty-six contributors. So if anyone asks you about any part of your fancy new decoration, you’ll feel warm and fuzzy about knowing thanks to your ability to give a dissertation on each artist.

Whenever one of our Spear Collective artists, like Dan Funderburgh and his off-the-wallpaper designs (we’ve been sitting on that pun for a while now) is in a show like Fellow Traveler, we have to share. Not doing so would be a huge disservice to those who appreciate things that are awesome. Dan is jointed by two other talented Midwestern printmakers — Justin Fines and Kevin Devine — who, from May 8 - May 31 are going to engage in a “trilateral conversation on poetry, conspiracy theories, ergonomics, and mortality” at Riviera Gallery in Williamsburg. Be there, or be culturally ill-informed.

As an artist continues to evolve, so must the way said artist represents him or herself. In order to accurately reflect his own evolving work, long time friend of the site and Spear Collective member, Grant Barnhart has given his website the once over, revamping it to display much of his newer work. The new look homepage has a simple design that is easy to navigate allowing web surfing art addicts to a wonderful opportunity to focus on just how much this Seattle bred’s work has grown. If you find yourself gallavanting through Europe and would like to see that evolution in person we recommend checking out Grant’s exhibition at Leslie’s Art Gallery in Luxembourg from May 2nd to May 31st.

Nearly a year has passed since we told you about Changethethought, a site from our friend and fellow Spear Collective member, Chris Cox. The site is still going strong, but that’s not to say it hasn’t gone through some big tweaks. Changethethought still exhibits Cox’s talent in the realms of print, illustration, typography, motion, the web and apparel, but a recent epiphany has led Cox began to change his thoughts. In his current blog post, Chris admits to feeling bogged down by the thought of “producing heaps and heaps of cool stuff.” As a result, our friend has become much more focused on “better design,” a decision we certainly applaud.

Spear Collective member and pal Jesse Hora has been hard at work creating some great illustration work for Adidas, and if you live in one of twelve major US cities, you’ll finally have the have to opportunity to check out some of Jesse’s work up close. In fact, it might be tough to get away from it, as his artwork will be covering everything from walls to bags and holiday boxes. Each Adidas location, which includes stores in places like SoHo, Berkley, Miami and Chicago, received a different grouping of illustrations, making each stores design a little different (and making Hora one busy guy). Check out all of his illustrations here.

Although this is old news to Spear Collective comrade Tom Judd, who did the illustration work for this Burton collab nearly two years ago in the Summer of ‘06, and was subsequently sworn to secrecy, it’s new news to us. This 2008 Burton GTwin deck has ‘Tom Judd’ written all over it, although the top sheet was censored a bit to — I’m guessing — scale down the loudness to comport with traditional Burton style. At any rate, whenever Mr. Judd fancies splattering his ideas on a canvas — no matter what type of canvas — we like it. This deck is ladies-specific, so rejoice Tom Judd groupie-snowboarder-chicks!

Our Spear Collective comrade RoyalRemarkable (aka Joshua Gajonik) will again be appearing in this year’s Grafuck, a yearly publication of erotic work from an international selection of artists. While normally using his skills to produced tons of work for Burton, Arkitip, and books like Hand Job (sounds sexual, but depending on your relationship with typography, really isn’t), Grafucks allow Joshua to explore his (and I quote) “humourous, poignant, and charming,” side by bringing together the work of illustrators, photographers, graphic designers and fine artists. The result is a seriously pretty outlet for built up sexual tension which will be released alongside a gallery show at California’s Nucleus Gallery on December 8th. You’ll see more of RoyalRemarkable’s work on the walls in that gallery should you choose to attend; if you can’t make it, works should be up for sale after opening night here.

Our friends and Spear Collective members, I-Manifest are apparently planning something big. They’re clearing out inventory by means of a BIG sale just in time for the holiday shopping frenzy. From now until the end of the year, all I-Manifest tees are $20.

The sale includes a couple of classics like the light-sensitive Urban Decay and the glow in the dark, reversible Cupid. These are sure to go quickly, so get a move on, and keep an eye on the site to see what’s coming in the new year!

Our arty pal (and Spear Collective member) Grant Barnhart has another opening around the bend, this time in his Seattle hometown. “Exact Change,” Grants latest body of work, was built on inspiration from the work of American artist Robert Rauschenberg. The series of paintings, again created in Grant’s classic mediums of oil and graphite, reflects the removal of self, and mocks and acknowledges the sexual perversity inherent in organized violence. While the conceptual drive behind “Exact Change” is easily discernible, the first thing one might notice in the recent paintings is the evolution of Grant’s personal style — bright colors have replaced bits of his muted palate; new shapes and forms have taken some of the room that his familiar animals used to fill; and, above all, his aptitude for story-telling has fully developed into a point of great personal strength. “Exact Change” will run through the first of January, with an opening reception at OKOK this Saturday, November 10th, from 6-10 o’clock.

Spear Collective member and personal favorite Grant Barnhart recently released a short-run print edition of one of his latest paintings, Horse(y) 1964. As part of Grant’s latest set of work (which will be shown at OKOK in early November- we’ll fill you in on all the details soon), Horse(y) 1964 demonstrates his newly-intensified color palate (and what seems like newly-intensified political messages). The print has been released in a series of 65 signed and numbered copies, but I’m struggling to find the print’s dimensions/further information on the printing method/paper used/etc. However, Grant is a terribly friendly guy, so should you care to know the answers to those questions, feel free to drop him an inquiry.

Our boy Matthew Curry — Spear Collective member, Grammy Award nominee, artist, occasional ad man and one-time vodka bottle designer — has just updated his website, Ninja Cruise. Matthew’s no stranger to the pages here; we’ve written about him a bunch of times before, most recently to shout out his collaboration with Enjin Skateboards. He designed some pretty sweet (and reasonably priced) boards for enjin, which we just gave you a chance to buy.

This Ninja Cruise update includes a good deal of hand-made content (ink on paper, rather than hue on screen) that, in an email, Curry called his “most successful paintings and drawings from the last 2 years.” Some of these canvases are for sale at The Beholder. When you go — and you will go — to Ninja Cruise to check out Matt’s latest and greatest, you’ll find his news in the middle of the page and those paintings and drawing we just talked about thumbnailed on the masthead. Ah, darkness.

Related: Matt Curry Archive

It’s that time again, when NZ-based Commune attempt to clothe you in their ltd.ed t-shirts designed specifically to prove to the outside world that yes, you’re a whole lot more awesome than they are — as in, I eat awesome, breathe awesome and bathe in awesome, I’m that frickin’ awesome awesome.

Okay, maybe not, but they do have seven new incredible tees up on their site that are the result of collaborations with RESN Design Studio, Catalina Estrada, Ronald Kurniawan, JS pet fave Adam Cruikshank, Commune’s own Jeremy Bennett, and Spear Collective’s Royal Remarkable. If you’re anything like us, you’ll be running over there pronto to score yours before they’re all gone. Go!

Related: Commune Une, Commune Deux

A couple of great stills from an animation of the King and Queen meeting on the Mimobot we just released for the 2007 artist series. Along with the super-sexy USB drives in many different capacities, the über-bot is full of tons of awesome Undoboy/Collective content like icons, wallpapers, graphics, and songs you can’t get anywhere else. Yes, I’m shamelessly promoting the Spear Collective, and the bot our beloved Undoboy (to the rescue) created. They’re great, you should have one, or two, or maybe even three. But there aren’t many, this puppy is limited edition! Maybe we should give away a couple right now. First person to tell me which member of the Royal Family who has a birthday that coincides with the first day of the Summer Olympics in Beijing wins a set of 2GB Mimobots. Tricky, I know, but let the Mimbots guide you. Go, Go, Go!

We love Enjin, a high-quality skateboard company, for a bunch of reasons. Not only do they take the idea of skate deck artwork pretty seriously, they also have made it their business, from the get-go, to work with some of the best international artists around, including Spear Collective’s very own Matthew Curry. The young company is pulling all the stops to get their fresh brand rolling, including a newly launched website (that displays as much attention to design as the products they sell), a few interactive ways for fans to spread the word about Enjin, and an nice focus on the artists that make their boards so awesome. You can browse through enjin’s reasonably priced selection here, and then help spread the word by downloading… shoot. I was going to send you to an enjin stencil download so you could do some late night arts and crafts, but it looks like the link’s gone bad. Ugh, I bet Bush did it. I guess you’ll have to make your own with your old pal X-Acto — or just go the safe route via t-shirts and skate decks. Up to you.