The Galaxy Note II event in New York City introduced a project Futura and Samsung would present together immediately following the main keynote that headed off the night. The night ended with a Kanye West concert, but not before Futura’s crowd-sourced digital mural was crafted live as the Samsung press and special guests filtered in to the venue. Made of a vast collection of guest-created images collected from Galaxy Note II devices throughout the night, the artist made one wild amalgamation to shine on its many contributors.

Above: Futura sits amongst the fray at the Galaxy Note II event in NYC. Below: DJ Hudson Mowhawke delivers tunes at the Galaxy Note II event near a giant display showing off the finer points of the Galaxy Note series.

In the hands-on period between the keynote and the concert, Futura sat at attention yet very obviously relaxed in the center of what was essentially a mad rush for touches on the newly available devices. A darkened club atmosphere, bright lights and colorful devices, and the artist in the center of it all, wearing dark pants, sneakers, and a white t-shirt with a leopard print pocket. His demeanor was that of a wise worldly fellow mixed with the seemingly unending hunger for staying on-point with not just his own artwork, but the most interesting and fabulous tools with which to do it.

That’s where Samsung comes in.

Above: Samsung’s Galaxy Note II keynote shows the collection of creative partners they’ve got ready to speak on the features of the Note series at the event.

Futura: They’ve asked me to speak on the creative possibilities on the tablet – specifically with the S-Note function and a lot of the different stuff you can do with the device. Kind of like a paint program, but it’s quite intense. I just got my device recently and within a few days of just messing with it, without even a formal walk-through, I felt like the device was intuitive enough to figure out, and I was able to do some really cool stuff.

Also the pen, itself, is amazing. I’ve worked with tablets before, whether its… you know, other names I don’t need to mention. Those always married up like a mouse. You do what you do with it… *clicking, mouse-movement gesture* within the tablet.

This is quite different.

The intensity, the sensitivity – I was messing around with something and it looked just like I spray painted it!

SlashGear: Have you gotten to use the Note II extensively yet?

F: Ah here, actually, I’ve got it in my back pocket. We’re gonna get plug in on it pretty soon and they’re gonna project my screen on to the monitor there and just go at it.

SG: I [Chris Burns] just got it too and reviewed it for SlashGear – it’s really nice, feels really good. [see our full review of the T-Mobile Galaxy Note II right now if you do so please]

F: Yeah it’s fun – it does feel good, and sexy, yeah.

SG: Your career path has been many different places – it’s always been interesting to see you delving into working with brands. Lots of different brands – designing a bike here, or this or that there – do you see yourself continuing to do that now?

With Samsung specifically, how do you see that affecting your art career?

F: The one thing about Samsung I’m kind of excited about – obviously – is – yeah there’s a list of companies that I’ve collaborated with, put my name on their product, bla bla bla – but I’ve never been [with] a tech company. And one of the biggest tech nerds out there – ever since my advantage, I guess, of going to Asia, for the rest of the whole swarm, I was always into gadgets and stuff like that.

I spent tons of money on all the kinds of stuff. Probably had every phone, PDA, you know, that’s probably been out there – if it’s cool, I may have got my hands on it, you know, as a consumer. So finally, [I get] to work with a brand that’s got a product that I can really use.

At this point Futura hails a server that’s been circling, asking quite politely if he can have two of the spring rolls she’s been serving to the crowd. In such a laid-back environment that this man creates, we can’t resist grabbing a roll as well.

F: There we go! Thank you so much, I’m going to dip this one, *dips from the sauce presented thusly*, thank you!

So all the collaborations. You know, the bike collabo, that makes sense, I guess, you know, Nike. CK1, that was like 6 years ago – maybe not so much. But you know, Samsung though, yeah, this is awesome.

And what I was saying is – you can do some stuff on this device that you can export out. I mean, you know, what, I got an idea for a painting, or a design sketch thing. It’s like other devices can’t just do that. This could be a very interesting addition.

Above: DJ Craze – another of Samsung’s special guests – lays down a few fine musical constructs for party attendees.

SG: If you have a brand, and Samsung, they have a brand – do you feel like this is a cross brand? Your name, Futura, do you feel like that’s a brand?

F: Yes. I do. I have a – I mean I subsequently closed my shop in Japan. You know, I had a shop in Japan where I was making stuff and putting my name on it. And thus those products are from, you know, my brand. But now, no, I’m actually kind of no longer doing that. However –

Skye, grab these foodie people! *Futura once again hails a server via his partner*

Above: The crowd gets thick at the event right before the Kanye session is about to begin.

F: But yes I understand that the Futura signature was once a graffiti tag on the walls of New York subways is now a brand. And I’m cool with that actually. I mean I’m not – I’m choosing these collaborations based on, obviously, what it is, not what the pay day is.

And to some degree, it’s not like – and as I say now, I had to close my store. It’s not like my motive is to manufacture things, put my name on them, you know – I want to pursue my art career. And I recently had a show in New York about a month ago.

I’m trying to get out of that lifestyle, get back into painting.

Above: Futura poses in front of one of his works of art at his recent show: Future-Shock at Valmorbida in New York. Image via 12ozProphet.

Stick around SlashGear for our continued interview series with the top minds in many industries and of many different disciplines, each of them making use of the technology that makes our modern world great. With an artist like Futura creating greatness with a device like the Galaxy Note II as a tool, the tool’s potential shines like a beacon for all to see – and want. Expect tech companies to continue with this trend in the near future – and keep an eye on Futura as he moves into tomorrow right on the cuff with creative intent.

In addition, as is the custom, each of these designs have been formatted to fit your iDevice backgrounds, desktop, iPad, and iPhone sizes included. These collections come in a Snap Case for iPhone, a Snap Case for iPod Touch, a Campus Pack, and some canvas sleeves for your laptops. There’s a 13-inch Canvas Sleeve and a 15-inch Canvas sleeve – both of which happen to fit Apple products perfectly, incase you’re wondering.

Also for those of you that do not recognize the designs, Shepard Fariey is an artist famous for his original Obey Giant graffiti campaign as well as the Obama HOPE poster image revealed during the 2008 election season. The incase online store has the snap cases for $39.95, campus packs for $149.95, and canvas sleeves for $79.95 and $98.95 depending on the size. All of these designs are available for purchase right now!

Also if you want to pick up some wallpapers, head over to incase’s Shepard Fairey page and head to the bottom – your desires are met!

Of course there’s no such thing as a hoax when the group responsible doesn’t specifically tell you that it’s supposed to be something that it’s not, right? What Tuffcub did was to contact the group whose billboard it was to see who rented the area at that time, and what do you know? They had the answer, of course, as they’re required to by law.

Panel number is 2375 03 Parry Street. The company advertising on it is CAPCOM.

You can find the rest of the loosely strewn campaign across nohopeleft.com where the nameless set of adverts are crowned with a strange video of a “real” woman speaking to her significant other, only to be attacked by… something or other. This all falls in line with what’s known in Japan as the game series “BioHazzard.” The USA version of the series is called Resident Evil.

Now we must assume that this campaign is not made for the prequel game Resident Evil: Revelations, as that game has already been announced as going on sale on the 26th. Instead, given that the date January 19th, 2012 (tomorrow) has been dropped a few times in the timeline on the campaign site, it’s gotta be Resident Evil 6. Sound reasonable to you? We’ll find out tomorrow for sure!

[via Gamespot]

When you add the name Marc Ecko in anything, you’ve got one whole heck of a lot of attention pointed toward it than if it was simply an electronics brand. Thusly Ecko and Mizco are made powerful in this collaborative device. The speaker works on bluetooth 2.1, has a range of 30 feet, and has a built-in microphone that’ll allow you some hands-free calling with your smartphone. In other words, this is the first spraypaint can shaped telephone enabled device on earth.

You’ve got a lithium ion battery on the inside that’ll be able to charge for 10 hours at a time, you can use it with whatever bluetooth device you’ve got, including everything from Android to PC to iPhone and iPad 2. This can will be available inside March of 2012 for MSRP $159.99 – we’ll be checking it out for sure! You know good and well your humble narrator would never let something so odd as this slip through the cracks.