Animals Asia

Thirty years is a lifetime for a moon bear, and for one bear named Oliver that lifetime was spent on bear bile farms in China. When Animals Asia rescued this poor bear in April 2010, it was soon evident that his years of captivity and malnutrition had resulted in "stress dwarfism" leaving him with a normal bear-sized head, body and paws but short, squat legs.

Oliver's new life at Animals Asia's Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Chengdu is spent lazing in the sun, swimming in his own bear-sized pool and devouring fresh fruit and other delicious treats that are all new and exciting to him. And for the first time ever he has grass under his feet and the sun on his back. After what he has endured... doesn't he deserve it?

More on Lap-Rap - View our Oliver Raps

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Craig Hempstead

Lap-rap is really excited to share this collection of Raps from Australian photographer Craig Hempstead.

Craig, a regular contributor to Lap-Rap has created this collection of images of vintage Kombi vans from an event which happens September each year in Northern NSW, Australia, known as the Old Bar Kombi Festival.

Through the lens of Craigs camera we can see the character these old vans still possess and the work these owners have put it to keep these great icons still on the road, some for over 40 years.

Please take the time to enjoy these 15 Kombi classics and you will see why the old VW Kombi van remains a part of our history and a much loved cultural icon on the Australian Coast.

Thank you Craig Hempstead of Local Images Photography for submitting this interesting folio.

More on Lap-Rap - View Craig's Raps

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DAN STAFFORD
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

Dan is an illustrator who explores visual communication in a post-modern context. He is influenced by theories of representation and meta-narratives as well as contemporary cinema and constructivism.

Dan’s work discusses and confronts ideas of duplicity and identity in a culture lacking a vision of the real. Dan lives and works in London, but he grew up in Manchester.

We fortunately discovered Dan’s work on The Cool Hunters

To get in touch with Dan for commissions and collaborations - Email - Website - Blog

More on Lap-Rap - View Dan's Rap

TODAY IS A NEW DAY
A very cool dude doing what he loves - making art and music his life and turning passion into fashion.

DEFREZ® is an artistic collective that also makes fresh clothing, music and art. The company is known for packaging its T-Shirts in Custom Limited-Edition Vinyl Record Sleeves!™

Always forward in fashion and advanced in art. From street schooling to proper education, designer FREZ! maintains the balance between functionality and freshness. Deeply rooted in artistic expression, those that wear DEFREZ® are music lovers, painters, progressive thinkers, dancers and day-dreamers.

More on Lap-Rap - More on DEFREZ®

Linda Hagger

ART + EMOTION = STORY TELLING

Enchanted

The story

Nature

Curious?

Black Saturday

More on Lap-Rap - Enquire about the Artist

GABE ROSE

Gabe completed his graphic design course in 2004 and joined Cult Industries in 2006 creating art & graphics for their clothing line. He also worked for 2 years on the cultman line. During the GFC Gabe has been doing freelance graphic design and sideline
commissions for numerous companies.

“Like many artists 2009 was a very tuff year but the drive will never die to keep on drawing".

There is no doubt that Gabe Rose is a very talented artist with a delicate hand and beautiful style,

We at lap-rap are delighted to showcase some of Gabe’s recent works.

View our Gabe Rose Raps - More on Gabe Rose

KOOL IS KIWIE
Kiwie is a multi talented artist from Latvia with a strikingly memorable and mischievous style.

Kiwie started putting paint on walls back in 2003 and now he has commercial commisions and exhibitions. His preferred medium is cans and would love to collaborate with Miss Van, Ress, Daim, Can2, Banksy & 123Klan.

“Graffiti is illegal, but people love it. It's kinda ironic!”

lap-rap is excited to showcase Kiwie’s graffiti - we love it too!

View our Kiwie Raps - More on Kiwie

WOTTO

A freelance artist from the UK, graduating in 1999. Wotto paints, doodles and draws the world as he sees it and has developed a series of cute characters that he takes to darker places through
his unique visual narrative.

Created using traditional materials and digital packages his art portrays a distinctive style which is instantly recognisable with great appeal & success. Wotto has worked for a number of global clothing companies as well as winning many on-line design contests gaining international status and numerous private commissions.

We are very excited to have Wotto designs in our gallery - his artwork is very cool!

View our Wotto Raps

NOT QUITE NIGELLA

NotQuiteNigella is Lorraine Elliott, a cake and food enthusiast who believes that cakes belong in an art gallery.

Lorraine has developed a fantastic blog spot which has an enormous following covering all that's good in food, restaurants, fashion and travelling.

Definitely one of the sites to visit. NQN would love to hear about your favorite food fix.

By the way we're told that Nigella Lawson visits NotQuiteNigella & loves it!

More on NotQuiteNigella

EDEN ROAD WINES

The photo for this rap was taken at a wine tasting in the Eden Road winery in Canberra on 20 May. Tastings are messy affairs as they really do involve lots of pouring and spitting wine. The bottle in the photo is marked “LR HT Shiraz” for Eden Road Wine’s Long Road Hilltop Shiraz. Both sheets of tasting notes are visible in the image and references can be seen to the LR HT Shiraz. A couple of weeks ago that very wine was awarded the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy at the 2009 Royal Melbourne Wine Show.

The Jimmy Watson is the like winning the Melbourne Cup (in Australia) or say an Oscar for Best Picture.

Chris and his dedicated team never dared to dream that they would ever win the Jimmy Watson—it was a miracle!

So well done Eden Road Winery - guess we all know what wine to buy now!

More on Eden Road Wines