If they looked half as pretty as papel picado, then these particular cuts in the art world probably wouldn't be rattling so many feathers. But the slump in the art market was foretold by its own share of harbingers: from this year's generally tepid Frieze Art Fair purchases to the decline of sales at Sotheby's to failure of MoMA's pre-fab architecture to sell. More harrowing news comes in the form of personnel reductions at New York's Pace Wildenstein.

It's infrequent that a professional skateboarder is granted carte blanche to take over an art gallery. But in Ed Templeton's case, it's common enough, and with good reason. His work manages to be visually daring and experimental but never egregiously so. Opening Saturday night at Culver City's Roberts & Tilton, "Map of the Inner War" is characteristic of Templeton's exhibitions, collecting over 200 sculptures, silkscreen, photography, paintings and other media into larger installations classed as "image clouds." These image clouds indiscriminately group people, places and themes captured in Templeton's work to generate an exciting presentation of everyday banality. Also opening tomorrow night in the gallery's Project Room is Matt Leines' "The Great Gates of Zenith." Both shows run through mid-December.

So what are you? Are a casual queer from Bordeaux, or a Yupstergirl from New York? Whatever you are, you can for sure find yourself, or a version of it, at Exactitudes, a comprehensive gallery of different social groups from all over, a lot of which I've never heard of. Rotterdam-based photographers Ari Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek have been shooting and cataloging modes of dress and appearance based on social grouping for over ten years. Although I'm not sure it takes a project of this magnitude to show that no one is truly an individual when it comes to style, it's not a bad way to piss away a few minutes at work.

Austrian artist Helmut Lang believes the artistic experience should be absolute. It's no small coincidence, then, that he's partnered with Absolut vodka to create In an Absolut World, a "radical new medium to view and experience art." And these days, when anything is "radical" and "new," you know it's gotta be online. Because the Internet has rendered everything else conservative and dated. So it's with that creed in mind that Lang brings us an online virtual gallery, to view his "Alles Gleich Schwer" exhibit. Once there, you can zoom in and out, rotate, and cradle his tactile pieces. It's actually pretty cool -- but what fun is online shenanigans without downloadables? Lang obviously sees this, which is why he's letting you download and print limited hi-res posters of the exhibition, "with no requirements needed other than an Internet connection." And if you don't have that, then you're probably not even reading this.

The doodle Barack Obama sketched during a Senate session that sold last year for $2,000 was analyzed this morning by an expert on MSNBC. Like a kid bored in class, Obama drew a scene from the Senate floor depicting senators Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, Dianne Feinstein, and Teddy Kennedy. "It's consistent with his handwriting," said a handwriting and art analyst. "He fills up the whole space which shows a need for attention. It also shows that he's flexible, very analytical and very private. He also has an inflated ego, which you probably need if you want to be President." The strike through the "O" shows his ambivalence towards his name, she added. Finally, the two figures facing left and two facing front may be a subliminal nod to his left-centrist politics.

Rolling Stones axeman Ronnie Wood is known as a lot of things -- lover of Guinness, wingman to Keith Richards, seducer of young Russian girls, and all around badass rocker. But his art has always taken a back seat ... until now. A portrait drawn by Wood of the late Atlantic Records prexy Ahmet Ertegun is scheduled to be auctioned at Christie's later this month. The piece, titled A Tribute to Ahmet, is signed by the surviving members of Led Zeppelin (who Ahmet signed to Atlantic Records in the late 1960s) and by Wood himself. Bidding starts at $3,000; sale estimate is at $5,000. Good luck.

So if the housing market tanks, what happens to the future prospects of meticulous museum emulations of the housing market? They tank too. Sorry, MoMA! This past summer, New York's Museum of Modern Art was featuring a collection of futuristic pre-fab housing on display as part of "Home Delivery." After the show closed in late October, the architects who designed homes as part of the exhibition were allowed to sell the homes. A lovable Russian billionaire was in talks to buy all five homes before the market crashed. Now, except for one dwelling, the homes have been sold off for a fraction of their market value or dismantled entirely.

Los Angeles underground artist Brandy Flower of Hit+Run Crew, on touring the world’s parties to bring art to the people, the death of the Xanax-munching, skinny jean-clad hipster, keeping up with the latest conspiracies and why his grandma thinks he’s boring.

What exactly do you do? I never learned any silkscreen technique, so for my 30th birthday, I bought a small starter kit and set it up in my kitchen. As a hobby, I started printing in my apartment and throwing small parties silk-screening on old clothes people would bring over. After I printed at a friend's backyard party in summer 2005, my college friend Mike Crivello realized that people loved checking out the screen-printing process, and he wanted to start a clothing line that used live printing as promotion. In November 2005, two months before Sony decided to move all creative services to New York, Mike and I started HIT+RUN with an event at the Blue Nile Cafe in Long Beach. Close to 200 events later, we have traveled all over the United States, to Europe and Japan, and have never had to solicit anyone to have HIT+RUN at their party.

Artist Mike Sagato (formerly a promoter at Butter) paid his school bills by slinging drugs -- no small feat when your father is a narc. His bio says he "managed to move up in the world by trading his dime bags for the illustrious yet noble role of 'guardian' for a lady of the evening." Can anyone tell me what a "lady of the evening" is? And if you're reading this, Michael, can you (comment section is below)? After some success in the ad industry, his bio veers away from your average artist press release bio-thingy to reveal a true eccentric.

Shepard Fairey, of the iconic Obama "Hope" poster, has been tapped to design a wine label for Kenwood Vineyards. The label will be used for the limited-edition Artist Series Cabernet Sauvignon, which is celebrating its 30th year. 2,146 bottles of this particular vintage were produced, and they're selling at $70 a pop. Not bad for a 2004 Cab wrapped in an original Fairey design.