At this point in time, it seems that the Totoro Forest Project is scheduled to only be held in San Francisco, but one can certainly dream of it taking to the road if the response is strong enough. Something like this would be a perfect fit in Los Angeles’ Studio 1984, for example, or the MoCCA in NY. But really, I’m just greedy and want to see it for myself. Sadly, I’ll probably have to settle for adding the book to my Christmas list, instead.

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Hardly anyone knows that a secret tunnel runs deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean. In May 2008, more than a century after it was begun, the tunnel has finally been completed. An extraordinary optical device called a Telectroscope has been installed at both ends which miraculously allows people to see right through the Earth from London to New York and vice versa.

The idea alone of smiling and waving to random people halfway across the world is so simple and wonderful. Maybe there actually is a secret tunnel…

The Telectroscope will be at the Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn through 6/15. Check it out:

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Some of the pieces (like the Louis Vitton store) don’t exactly work, but overall it’s deeply impressive and memorable to say the least — especially the stunning sculptures Second Mission Project ko2 Advanced (Human Type) and Inochi, and the overwhelming paintings Super Nova and Tan Tan Bo Puking, which I would argue is an honest-to-god masterpiece.

Unfortunately restrictions kept us from taking photos, but you can check out how Murakami’s gigantic Mr. Pointy sculpture was assembled, and you can also take a look at the swell Murakami site the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles has up. It’s where the exhibit was first shown a few months back and I believe features all the same work.

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Click on the detail shot below to visit the KFR gallery of photos from the show.

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Masterworks Artwork to benefit the Hero Initiative

November 16- 31, 2006, Hyaena Gallery, in Burbank CA, will be offering a number of original art pieces created for the Marvel Masterworks series of Silver Age collections by artist Mike Kelleher. The artist will be donating all proceeds to “The Hero Initiative”, a charitable organization that helps veteran comic creators in need. Each drawing is an exact recreation of the original works created by legendary artists Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, John Buscema and many others.

This is an incredible opportunity to own original artwork of some of the greatest comics ever published! These are not simple recreations made for fans and collectors. Every drawing was commissioned and approved by Marvel Comics for publication in the Masterworks Collections.

Marvel Comics has gone to great lengths over the past few years to give fans EXACT reproductions of the silver age stories that made Marvel famous. Often times the film that was used in the original printing process was either lost, damaged, or altered, so a new version must be created.

When Mike Kelleher first began reconstructing artwork for the Masterworks books he did them all digitally and the results were amazing, but he felt that they were too “smooth” and “mechanical” looking when compared to the pages shot from original film. The simple remedy was to recreate the images in ink on paper, at twice the printed size, just as the original artists did almost 50 years ago. The result is a much truer representation of the original printings.

Each piece, measuring 14 x 17 inches, was painstakingly reproduced to mimic line-weights and styles of the original artists and inkers.

“I can’t think of a more fitting tribute to the artists that I idolize than to use the recreations of their artwork to benefit comic creators.” Kelleher said.

You can preview the drawings at www.michaelkelleher.com

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