Welcome Digest [1.21.26]
Secret Cameron Winter show, RIP Valentino, cows learned how use tools, and more
Welcome To January 21st
Today’s Important Headlines
🪿 Cameron Winter plays secret show under fake alias
Cameron Winter performed an unannounced set in Brooklyn under the alias “Chet Chomsky,” raising money for a mutual aid fund for families in Gaza. The show featured a solo opening set from bandmate Emily Green and with the second half of Winter’s set being performed nearly in complete darkness, turning the benefit into an unusually intense, stripped-down performance. Geese will make their debut appearance on Saturday Night Live this weekend.
☮️ Internet-inspired artist Craig Boagey turns brainrot into technically precise collages
Exploring themes of humanity, technology, myth, and nature, Boagey’s paintings feature uncanny collages of familiar cultural references from brainrot, to anime references, occult imagery, poetry, and nature. His work is technically impressive, combining various paint mediums such as oil, airbrushing, and colored pencils. The works achieve a sense of cohesion for the hyperstimulated brain.
🧳 Pharrell did everything for the new Louis Vuitton show himself
Pharrell staged, produced, and designed the FW26 Louis Vuitton men’s collection, which debuted at Paris Fashion Week inside a fully custom-built glass house furnished with specially designed pieces. The setting reinforced his vision of Louis Vuitton as a complete lifestyle world. He also fully produced the show’s soundtrack, debuting new music collaborations with A$AP Rocky and Quavo.
🕊️ Valentino Garavani dies at 93
Valentino Garavani, who founded the Valentino fashion house and dressed royalty, presidents, and Hollywood for more than five decades, died in his home in Rome on Monday. Iconic fashion figures like Jacqueline Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, and Julia Roberts owe many of their looks to him. Valentino’s simple focus of pursuing beauty allowed him to become one of the first designers to bridge the runway and the commercial.
🐄 Cows have learned to use tools
Researchers have experimentally verified the first confirmed instance of tool use in cattle by a cow named Veronika who uses a handheld brush to scratch herself, meaning cows are now among the only mammals besides humans and primates known to do so. The finding challenges long-held assumptions about animal intelligence and suggests cows may possess greater cognitive abilities than previously recognized, particularly when given long, enriched lives like Veronika’s.
Headline curation and words by Mikail Haroon (@mvkail)
Moodboard 022
Today’s inspiration supplement. Click through to view.
From The Archive
An extra piece of content from the Welcome Archive for Magazine subscribers only.
‘Game of Thrones’ for Vanity Fair (2014)
Shot by Annie Leibovitz, the Vanity Fair shoot was produced ahead of season four and featured core cast members photographed in studio and outdoor settings with wardrobe referencing their on screen roles.
The images were published in Vanity Fair’s April 2014 issue and released online in March 2014, alongside a short behind the scenes video documenting the shoot and cast interviews.
Solid digest format. That Boagey piece bridging brainrot and technique is what internet art needs more of, like using colored pencils alongside airbrush to ground hyperstimulation inskill. Also cool seeing Veronika the cow prove tool use, changes assumptions abot mammal cognition pretty fundamentally.