The Japanese Art of Shaping Shiny Spheres of Mud

The Japanese art of hikaru dorodango involves hand-shaping mud and soil into smooth, shining earthen spheres. P2 Photography caught up with dorodango practitioner Bruce Gardner in the second installation of their “Buck the Cubicle” video series for an inside look at the odd yet hypnotizing hobby. After forming an initially wet ball of mud from soil found just outside his studio, Gardner slowly works layer …

This Brutal World

The new black and white photo book is a visual feast of imposing architectural structures

How do crude and unsympathetic concrete structures appeal to human hearts around the globe? Graphic designer Peter Chadwick (founder of London-based studio A Popular Space) attempts to explain his fervent love for Brutalism not through too many words but, like the architecture movement itself, with blunt, honest simplicity. Black and white photo after photo of singular, monumental structures make up “This Brutal World,” his new …

D’Angelo feat. Princess: Sometimes It Snows in April

D’Angelo was joined by Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum (aka Princess, a Prince cover band) last night to perform a tremendously moving version of Prince’s “Sometimes it Snows in April.” The song, from the legend’s 1986 album Parade (perhaps most famous for “Kiss”), is a heartbreakingly poignant choice. D’Angelo has cited Prince as a huge influence many times and has performed “She’s Always in My …