1) So you're turning heads on the New Zealand fashion scene. How long have you been doing what you're doing and how'd you get there?
I've been around for about five years, but I've only really embraced my true style and obessions in the last two years since I opened my Ponsonby Store in Auckland. It takes a lot of confidence to be bold! Before that I had a shop called RIP SHIT and BUST which is where I just sussed this whole fashion business out and sold lots of amazing one-off, avant garde pieces, made by my friends and my own dissasters.too. I've been focussed for such a long time now and made lots of sacrifices but its been so worth it.

2) What do you love the most about being a fashion designer? ...and what do you hate about it?
They are the same thing for me which makes for a very precarious situation. I love a finished job. Whether it be a new dress or something, or a successful shoot– it is an incredible feeling but it's a major battle for me to get there. Fashion is so High Octane on all levels all the time and sometimes I can't be bothered. That's fine though because I have a tendancy to be a lazy alcoholic.

3) If there was one, what would be the Miss Crabb motto?
"It's all about having a party, really." and also: "Easy-access"

4) What inspires you?
In general, my freinds who are geniuses and doing their own thing is always amazing, especially when theres sums of cash involved. I love music, I think it's one of the most beautiful things in this world, it's amazing. I'm obessed wtih country music and heavy metal at the moment, it gets me out of bed.

In terms of my work, I get really technical on the pattern cutting and construction...so I'm always studying that stuff ( like a real creep). I'm interested in the new and various ways things can be worn through the cutting and how it makes one feel when your wearing it. hopefully really hot and powerful and beautiful.

I'm also really into romance and mystery, that always inspired me to keep going, all of the above in one.

5) What are you working on at the moment? Tell us about it.
Well, I'm just finishing off the current winter range which is just taking ages to actually cap it off, but it's the first time I've been truly happy with my work and it's been very successful so far. I've been totally obsessed about it while not caring too much about it.

The range called "it's time for Pritika and Miss Crabb" is about a collaboration with my freind Pritika Lal who is an amazing artist, and she has done the prints for the range. They are based on conversations we had about dreams of adventure and mis-adventure, time, wild animals, sea monsters, water, hair, ropes and chains and clocks (all very symbolic). It's has been a real technical challenge this range as it's the first time I've used original prints. I'm also venturing into the world of denim...I love injecting more stress into my life!

6) Who is your all time fashion idol?
Of course that would be Vivienne Westwood. I love her history and how she got started, her ethos and work ethic and the results in what she has accomplished and her impact on culture. I love that illusion of creative indulgence, see: "I do what I like", being duped "crazy" but being very serious and focussed about what you do. it's amazing that she's still doing it, in her late sixties or whatever, on some level, as that is my plan too.

7) What does the future hold for Miss Crabb?
More of now....just getting better and better. Expanding the empire, and having some kids.

I'm going on a world trip in July to get some perspective and show my stuff to key people over there and to have a good time with old freinds.

1) Tell us about you. What makes Ben Frost tick?
I've been in Sydney for nearly a year now in a studio in Surry Hills and at the moment I'm looking at new ways of expanding my own art outside of just painting.  I've just finished my first sculpture piece 'Self -regenerating Bambi' which is made of cast-polyurethane and because it's from a mold, I can make multiples which I'm finding quite exciting.  Painting is always interesting, but lately i've been trying to move away from it a little because it's difficult to stay focused on a continuous structure of expression year after year.  I've always been into pushing my skills in diferent genres like illustration or music or writing, and I think it's important to explore yourself through all the different ways there are to do that.   I spend a lot of time collecting images from the internet and from magazines and bits and pieces of things I find on the street.  I'm a pop culture junkie and this is what reflects in my work I think. 

2) Your pictures are intense, there's so much going on. What gets you to the end point? What are they about?
It's always difficult to know when to stop.  Some of my paintings that should only take a week end up taking three because areas demand to be filled with more and more bits.  It's the small accidents and things that you didn't expect to happen, that end up looking good, that keeps me going.  I don't usually have any real plan of composition before I start, so it all comes together as I go - sometimes things work out and then sometimes when they don't I often end up painting over sections.  I feel like a conduit I guess for everything around me and what I come into contact with while I'm painting.  So when I find pictures or fliers or magazine clippings that have some cool colours or symbolise something interesting, I make sure I save them and filter them into my paintings where I can.

3) Would you class yourself as a "pop artist"?
Pop art was really something that happened in the 60's, but to describe my work generally it's pop art.  I think the idea of it now is something that has to do with what it is the viewer might understand as being appealing or repulsive.  The self-indulgent element is lesser I think because I'm always considering the audience in my work.  This is the basis of commercial art like illustration or design, where an idea is being put across and its important that the viewer can access and take part or understand overall what is trying to be expressed.  Of course ambiguity is all through my work and I don't want to be too descriptive - but at the same time I know that a certain character or combination of colours will register a certain response that can be described as 'popular' or 'pop'.

4) Andy Warhol once said "Commercial things really do stink. As soon as it becomes commercial for a mass market it really stinks." Do you agree?
Andy Warhol lived at a time when commercialism was a new thing, when there was still some innocence left in the world.  Today we are all living commercials, we're all trying to be a part of the mass market - and yeah it's true - we all stink. 

5) What inspires you?
Lately I get a lot of inspiration from myspace.com.  Sounds kind of whacky, but it's quite an amazing thing.  It's kind of like a dumping ground for bizarre images that each individual has found on their travels and communicating with each other through these images.  The artists in this new forum are really progressive I find, because there's a complete disregard for having 'permission' to be an artist.  There's no gallery, no dealer, no magazine editor, no censorship - and especially no requirement that the artist need any qualifications.  There's a huge movement of low-tech, anti-aesthetic work that is spewing out of the internet and I find it so appealing and likewise there are hundreds of thousands of people celebrating it.  I met this one artist called Norihiro Sekitani www.geocities.jp/sekintani/ from Osaka in Japan on Myspace, and to me he symbolizes this new and exciting implosion of all things into one picture frame.  He's got a free Geocities site to show his stuff, and I think that's really awesome, cause with all the bells and whistles of modern sites, really it comes down to the content and his stuff is just so insane.

6) If you could deface a famous piece of art, what would it be and what would you do to it?
I would deface Mike Parr.  I had the misfortune to see his last performance where he lay in a bag overnight televised to Performance Space.  It was so inane.  I can't stand the kind of art where despite its overwhelming level of uninterest, the viewer is supposed to give it kudos because the artist is of a high profile.

7) Where to now for Ben Frost? What's next?
I have an exhibition called 'New Gods' opening at Blank Space in Sydney on June 8th which I'm finishing up at the moment.  I'm really interested in toys at the moment so I'm making prototypes and looking into production for next year.  I'm rehearsing every week with my band and spending most of my time on Ebay.  Hopefully soon I can give up art and get a real job. Maybe something like a tax accountant.

For more information on Ben's upcoming exhibition visit www.blankspace.com.au

Captivating and poetic, Terra Incognita (Curated by Jacqueline Doughty) draws together six Australian and International artists who draw on the language of cartography to chart an internal landscape of ideas, memories and emotions. Their maps give visual form to the intangible conceptual forces that shape our lives, just as concretely as our physical surroundings. While these intuitive maps may not be factual, they are true, and they offer the viewer passage through interior worlds more profound than can be found in the pages of an atlas.
Nicole Andrijevic’s floor-based topographical landscapes are formed from layered mounds of multi-coloured sand. Owing more to the world of imagination than to geography, these miniature mountains and islands in acid shades of yellow, pink and blue stretch across the floor like an archipelago in some psychedelic republic.

Simon Evans’ drawings of lists, charts and maps make order out of the daily challenges of life – relationships, career, anxieties, health - often in a humorously arbitrary way. Pieced together with notebook paper, biros, tape and correction fluid, the work has a homemade, diaristic quality, and these humble materials become Evans’ tools to map the human condition.

Bridget O’Brien’s wall-paintings stem from an interest in the links between mapping and landscape painting and in alternatives to Western cartographic traditions. The abstract forms in her work are reminiscent of land-masses, but also suggest motion and the idiosyncratic ways we perceive and move through the space that surrounds us.

Jessica Rankin embroiders text and images onto the sheerest organdy to make “brain-maps”, ethereal wall-hangings that offer a glimpse into the workings of the mind. Fragments of conversations, dreams, memories and day-to-day observations mingle in a delicate network of stitched phrases and images that map our elusive thought processes.

Christian Thompson questions dominant representations of Australian indigenous culture, using video, performance and photography to chart what he terms a “complex series of identities”.  Through his work he structures his identity as an indigenous Australian and a conceptual artist, setting the coordinates for his own cultural map.

Simon Yates’ ongoing project “Universal Cloaking Device” is nothing less than an attempt to map the world of art and ideas. His ingenious constructions and drawings combine high concepts, pop culture, visual puns and word play to build a kinetic, map-like metaphor for the inventive and associative mind of the artist.

26 May - 24 June 2006, Gertrude Street Galleries, Melbourne.

Richard Gray has been hailed by many as one of the most adept fashion illustrators of recent times. His work is covetted by top fashion magazines, and fashion designers.

He has created so many illustrations for designer Alexander McQueen, and fashion house Boudicca that some often mistake him for their inhouse illustrator.

One can not help but be drawn into Grays rich, surreal illustrations. Every image is a highly considered narrative, from the bold costumes to the over-exaggerated models. His work has a gothic, or victorian feel, and could slide easily into another era, but always has a strikingly beautiful and contemporary edge.

Apart from a close collaboration with designers McQueen and Boudicca, Gray has also illustrated the costumes for the film "From Hell"; made his name as a recurring contributor to Vogue Italia, immortalizing the couture shows; has illustrated a novella by Neil Gaiman, and drawn the unforgettable Agent Provocateur Sauce ads.

Annie is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and DJ who has worked with the likes of Richard X and Royksopp, and she even used to be in an indie band called Suitcase. With credentials like that, nothing can go wrong. Her debut album "Anniemal" is that rarest of jewels, a truly great pop album.

This album has been a long-time coming since she released her first single, the Madonna-sampling underground success "Greatest Hit", in 1999. The track was made with Annie's producer boyfriend Tore Andreas Kroknes, who sadly died from a heart defect in 2001, aged just 23. Annie needed time to recover from the loss before going on to complete the album, which she had always intended to make with him.

Featuring his trademark bleeps and beats, the Richard X produced opener "Chewing Gum" is one of the album's stand-out tunes; surely the most infectious pop single to be released in 2004! Listen to it and then shrug your shoulders in disbelief that it only reached No.25 in the charts. The upbeat "Me Plus One", meanwhile, bounds along with confidence and style as Annie sings and raps over lush, breathy backing vocals.

As if we aren't being spoilt enough, fellow Norwegian's Royksopp (from Annie's home town of Bergen) contribute to three tracks, including the soulful synth-pop "No Easy Love", which wouldn't sound at all out of place on the 'sopp's debut LP, Melody AM.

"Heartbeat" , her first single of 2005, lives up to Annie's description as being a 'party song about enjoying the moment', while "Come Together" starts off slow before turning into a hypnotic eight minute disco anthem with synth strings and handclaps. The album closes with the melancholy "My Best Friend", all about the worries of having a mate in distress.

The production throughout the album really shines, and Annie herself competes effortlessly with the best that the Kylies and Britneys of this world have to offer. Sheer Anniemal magnetism - this is what pop music should sound like in in the 21st century.

Annie's Australian tour kicks off with Melbourne, at the Prince on Thursday June 8. Followed by two Sydney appearances at 'Super Fag Tag', Ent. Centre, Saturday June 10, and 'We Love Sounds' at the Hordern Pavillion, Sunday June 11.

1)How'd you get into drawing? Tell us about you.
I'm 27, from Yorkshire in England. I like Buddy Holly, Django Reinhardt, dressing up, chartpak markers, my new airbrush, the smell of play doh, Paris Texas by Wim Wenders, Spaghetti Westerns, baking, knitting, taking photo's, playing spanish guitar, aeroplanes, swimming in the sea, plastic furniture, nice whiskey, my husband and my little boy Wade who's nearly 1. Drawing is my main thing although I wouldn't have much to draw if it wasn't for my love of finding clothes and props and my photography. My dad's an illustrator and I used to sit and watch him draw from being very little. I've always been around coloured pencils, markers, French curves etc, so it was only a matter of time before I picked them up and starting scribbling.

2) A lot of your drawings are with markers. Tell us about the process.
I sketch out the image in coloured pencil, then paint using markers and gouache on plastic and a spirit to mix the colours. I sometimes finish off with a bit of airbrushing. The markers and spirit I use are super-fast drying so I've gotta be quick on my feet which I like, it doesn't allow my work to become laboured. I won't elaborate too much it's a well kept secret.

3) What do you like to draw, and why?
Me. Cause I'm ace. Just kidding, but I do like drawing me. Mainly because it's much easier to direct myself and get the look I desire rather than dress someone up and try to get them acting a specific way. I enjoy doing portraits most of all but it's just nice to bring something to life whether it's a girl or a donut.

4) What / who inspires you?
All sorts of things. Music, films by Pedro Almodovar, billboard ads, cinefilms. I've got loads of old cine film from when I was little and i recently splashed out on a super 8 camera for myself so now I can make nice nostalgic looking films of my own little family. I suppose I'm just inspired by general stuff that I like. It might be a postcard that I find or some nice food packaging. My most recent thing is 1950's swimsuit I found in a junk shop with little heart buttons down the front, it's ace. We're going to italy in a few months so I'm hoping there's going to be a beach with rows of stripy deckchairs that I can pose in front of. I'll be very disappointed if not cause I've already started painting it in my head! I might even let wade make his debut appearance in that one if he's lucky.

5) What are you working on at the moment? Tell us about it.
I'm just putting the finishing touches to a painting of a photograph that I took in Portugal. It's of a modern pink apartment building and a man with his little bright red three wheeler pickup thing. Im not sure what he's doing, I think he's probably a gardener or something. He's just going about his job but he looks really comfortable and the whole image has an odd peacefulness that I like.

6) If you could have anyone in the world dead or alive to sit for a portrait who would it be?
My grandma when she was young in the 30's, she was cool.

7) If you couldn't draw anymore what would you turn to?
Drink. Nah I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't draw anymore, I get withdrawl symptoms if I don't get my felt tips out daily so I wouldn't be a happy bunny. I'd probably just carry on doing what I do minus the drawing bit, concentrate more on photography.

In 1999, Ryan McGinley, then a graphic design major at Parsons School of Visual Arts in New York, sent his 50-page home-cooked book of urban idyllic photographs "The Kids Are Alright", which he had produced on his desktop computer, to 100 magazine editors and artists he admired. At the time, fashion photography was ending its infatuation with gritty photography. Decaying beauty, as found in moody images of slouchy, stoned, skinny girls by artists such as David Sims, Glen Luchford, Mario Sorrenti and Corinne Day, were being wiped off magazine pages in favor of buoyant stylized shots of pretty Brazilian girls with party-ready bodies and supernaturally white teeth.

Ryan McGinley's photographs of his friends exuberantly indulging in irreverent behavior are neither sullen nor saccharine. His early photographs of kids messing around, stealing stuff and getting trashed, were influenced by graffiti, queer culture, skateboarding and sloppy parties without the hard drugs, impending tragedy and romanticized madness of his predecessorsí generation of self-defining photography. McGinley, who was born in New Jersey in 1977, is never a tourist, but alway a participant, finind it vital to be part of the scene he documents.

Like much contemporary art, McGinley's work harks back to that compulsive and omniscient shutterbug, Andy Warhol. Its most prominent recent exponents are Nan Goldin, with her first-person record of the Lower East Side demimonde, and Wolfgang Tillmans, with his intimate, family-style pictures of his youthful social circle in Europe. McGinley's initial influence, though, was Larry Clark, whom he met in Manhattan when Larry Clark was hanging out with some skateboarders (one of whom was McGinley).

McGinley's pictures have none of the after-hours decadence of Warhol's snapshots, nor the grit of Larry Clark's work, nor the noirish narcissism of Nan Goldin's. They are closer to Wolfgang Tillmans work, but less sexily poetic. In fact, McGinley's approach to sexuality is one of the interesting things about his work. Same-sex attachments predominate, but there is no ''gay style'' in evidence, or at least not a familiar or obvious one. If this represents an update of the 1970's clone look, the new model is hip-hop instead of Marlboro Man, which suggests intriguing sociopolitical shifts in masculine self-presentation, gay or otherwise.

What those politics might be, exactly, is hard to say, though the question arises in light of the apparently carefree spirit of McGinley's pictures. The artist seems to understand this: his inclusion of a shot of a friend, speeding away from ground zero on a bike, his mouth covered by his shirt, carries a jolt of reality-check surprise. However the work develops, it is refreshing to encounter, as we seem to, artists operating to some extent outside the mainstream of the art world itself, where volatile energies -- aesthetic and political -- are too often stroked into craftsy, resistance-free acceptability. It would be great if that process proved to be not all right with these kids.

L'Enfer (Hell) is the compelling new thriller from Danis Tanovic, the hugely talented director of the Academy Award-winning No Man’s Land. It is the second in the trilogy of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory devised by the collaborators behind the Three Colours trilogy, Krzysztof Piesiewicz and the late Krystof Kieslowski.

Featuring a superb all-star cast, the film is a whirling portrait of a family torn apart by the past. Three sisters, Sophie (Emmanuelle Béart), Celine (Karin Viard) and Anne (Marie Gillain) have drifted apart since a traumatic childhood incident. Sophie, the eldest, is married with young children, but suspects her photographer husband of having an affair. Youngest sister Anne is a student involved in a messy relationship with a tutor. Middle sister Celine lives a joyless life looking after her mother (Carole Bouquet). When a young man (Guillaume Canet) takes an interest in her, she little suspects the true motive behind his approaches…

Emotionally profound and highly involving, L'Enfer is a tightly wound reflection on judgement and human nature. Tanovic’s masterful direction, combined with sterling performances, results in an entirely gripping drama.