Being Canadian has its advantages: claim to the largest freshwater deposit in the world, hockey superiority, our own brand of bacon and the requisite tree sap we’ve come to be know for (insert maple syrup joke here). Being amoung the first to be able to actually use the iPhone 4, however, isn’t one of them. So here we are in possession of an iPhone 4 that we can’t use because it’s locked to AT&T in the States. We used it ever-so-gently to create a template for the iPhone 4 line of GelaSkins and now we’re just dying to give it away, so that’s just what we’re going to do!

Here’s the plan: we’re going to give our precious iPhone 4 to one of our Twitter followers when our follow-count reaches the magic number of 7500. So, how do you enter? Simply follow us on Twitter. That’s it! Tweeting the fact that you just entered a totally awesome contest with the raddest company around couldn’t hurt.

Heck, you can just copy and paste this phrase: Psst! @gelaskins is giving away an iPhone 4 to one lucky follower when they reach 7500 followers. RT and FOLLOW THEM!

Drop a line on Facebook or Twitter if you have any questions. Kapish?

* Note: This phone is locked to AT&T in the US… just a heads up!

One of our all time faves, Brandi Milne, has a new show opening this weekend at Corey Helford Gallery and it’s going to be HAWT! The evolution of Brandi’s wonderfully playful style has been increasing exponentially over the past couple of years and this show is a great example of that. If you’re in the area, do yourself a favour and check it out. I guarantee it’s going to be great!

Our man, Joe Ledbetter, has what looks to be a really sweet new show mounting at the Corey Helford Gallery starting this Friday. Joe was kind enough to send over some previews and I think you’ll agree, there is much in the way of bad assery to seen. You really should check it out if you’re in the area.

EDIT: Daily du Jour has added a pretty lengthy interview with Joe to their blog this morning. Check it out here.

The great folks at Hi Fructose (really one of the best art mags on the scene, IMHO) has a few shots of the really-quite-amazing-looking new show mounted at Fecal Face dot Gallery in SF this week featuring GelaSkins alumni, Damon Soule. Soule (and his psychedelic, exploding, technicolor imagery) has been kicking ass for quite a while, but this time ’round, he brought some friends. The friends in question are none other than MARS-1, Oliver Vernon and David Choog Lee. These folks all contributed and collaborated Damon to make what is clearly one of the hottest looking shows this year.

How awesome is that?! All these guys are so rad I’m surprised they didn’t form some kind of Voltron-like robot and demolish the block at the end of the night.

Peep more pics from the Hi-Fruc crew over on their blog…

Well it’s nothing too fancy here, just an aging rock and roll icon interviewing the poster child (pardon me) for street art and copyright infringement.

If you think you’re not familiar with Shepards work, chances are you’re wrong. Remember a US federal election a couple of years ago with young go-getter named Barrack Obama? Well, surely you recall that red and blue “HOPE” campaign poster – THAT is Shepard’s handiwork. The Associated Press is claiming, however, that his inspiration (read: photographic image it’s exactly based on) was used without proper copyright approval or permission. Now he’s having the bejeezus sued out of him. It’s a historic case in terms of artists rights and copyright protection, and since there’s been so much hype and media circus surrounding the case, it’s nice to see him speaking so candidly. All the best Shepard, we’re rooting for you.