Glossy abstractions and ladybugs laze across fingertips. Fungi sprout as if Björk’s hands are tree trunks. Planks of chrome, like the chicest finger splints imaginable, clutch a red rose blooming in Lil Nas X’s fist. Whether inspired by animal, vegetable, or mineral, Sojin Oh’s boundary-breaking nail art has made her among the world’s most booked, winning fans (and clients) like Cardi B, Kali Uchis, Arca, and Rihanna.

It all started, she says, with Gong Li. “I remember watching Curse of the Golden Flower and seeing the Chinese fingernail guards and gold-accent extensions,” she says. “The beauty elements of her character were inspiring and powerful to me because they captured her emotions well.” With a flick of Li’s fingers, a world of possibilities opened up. “I thought, that’s what I want to do for nails,” she says, “get inspired by the persona and create a brand-new design for that one person to express who they are and what they’re feeling.”

Oh’s nail art has more in common with what Björk famously called “emotional landscapes” than typical salon styles. Beauty school certification didn’t teach her much. “I had to educate myself in class,” she says. “I’d watch YouTube videos and learn the basics.” Her breakthrough came from an unlikely source. “I was practicing making blobs with transparent builder sculpture gel, and I fell in love.” Soon, she could turn these blobs into sculptures: ersatz dewdrops, flecks of frost, frames for bits of cellphones and sea glass. “I was using plastic scrapes to create some effects on my 3D nails, and I was doubtful. But when I encapsulated them with clear gel, it looked icy and ethereal.”

She didn’t stop there. Soon, she could attach enamel terrariums to fingertips. “I saw a Petri dish online, and I started imagining,” she says. “It took a couple weeks to figure out the materials and process, but I finally got to do them on a client and they looked pretty realistic—almost edible.”

Celebrity clients ate her designs up. Brands came calling, including Louis Vuitton and YSL Beauty. Rosalía’s people saw the work and asked for some custom options. Typically, Björk favored total freedom. “They wanted something fungi-related,” she says, but otherwise “I was given complete creative freedom, which was such an honor. I love working with her because she’s fearless, expressive, and vulnerable with her medium, and I always admired that.”

Oh is equally fearless when it comes to calling out changes the industry should adopt. Starting out, she says, “I wish I knew how toxic most beauty materials are. I learned the hard way, and now try to work with brands and materials that are free of toxins.” She’s learned the cost the industry inflicts on artists’ bodies, too. “Beauty workers are constantly putting tension on our upper body. It would be nice to be able to have a massager that’s wearable so we can use them while at work.”

Until that arrives, Oh is looking towards other methods of self-care, including “nature-inspired mixology.” Odds are those drinks will inspire as much as the nails on the hands toasting them.

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Nestled within gardens of 600-year-old olive trees and at the end of a Cypress-lined driveway, a Camellia-pink pazo (traditional Galician country house) is the heart of Maison Bonhomme’s new Casa Beatnik Hotel. Inspired by the couture counterculture of Yves Saint Laurent and his ilk, the hotel comprises 13 one-of-a-kind suites and 6 luxury yurts, each appointed with the maximalist panache one might expect from Bonhomme’s team of collaborators including Luca Lanzetta Group, Molteni&C, Viccarbe, and Patricia Urquiola.

After a two-year renovation of the 18th-century estate, Casa Beatnik now offers a pair of spruce-shingled Iglusaunas made by hand in Estonia, and multiple massage therapy and ritual options held inside a Kyrgyz yurt and Bedouin-esque tent. Once relaxed, guests can dine at chef Marcos Campos’ Mediterranean-via-South American restaurant Beatnik or the more intimate Tribu, with six tables tucked among the property’s extensive plantings. The nearby Salon, with a hearth dating back three centuries and a bar made of a single block of Angolan granite, is the perfect place for a nightcap—or another glass of wine crafted from the local vineyard, home to a Cascón varietal that’s the oldest vine in Galicia.

Since founding her interdisciplinary studio Another Human in 2017, Leah Ring has brought her sensibility—a bit Memphis but not nostalgic, and sunny without falling for kitsch—to residential spaces throughout California, and even a minty fresh pop-up for Boy Smells. But it’s her conceptual objects, or what she told Surface she thought of as “sculptural furniture,” that truly wows: her Zorg chair is part trombone, part throne, while her 2021 Ferngully collection pools pastel slices of acrylic upon mirrors and tabletops for a tropical treat.

Doodle, her latest collection, may at first seem like a sharp turn toward the gestural. Its swipes of plated steel arching around cast resin to form a table and pair of chairs that more quickly bring to mind the illustrations of Jean Cocteau than the fanciful flights of Ettore Sottsass. Yet they might also honor the brain-unsticking fiddling of playing with a paperclip. Finding hope in such a humdrum object is part of what gives Ring’s work such charm.

The film Everything Everywhere All at Once has proven to be a real hero, not only with its breathtaking visuals but also through its charitable donations. A24, the film’s production company, announced it will auction off 43 props and costumes to benefit three charitable organizations: the Laundry Workers Center, the Transgender Law Center, and the Asian Mental Health Project.

The props and costumes have been categorized into three groups, each with one-of-a-kind items, including Evelyn’s hot dog costume, Jobu’s Elvis ensemble, and the infamous Rockverse Rock and “Auditor of the Month” buttplug-shaped trophy. All funds raised from the auctions will be donated to charity. A24 has previously auctioned off props and costumes from Midsommar, Uncut Gems, and Euphoria for a good cause, including old movie merchandise to support the Vidiots Foundation.

When: Until June 18

Where: Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland

What: Self paints with various pigments, materials, textiles, and threads, drawing from her personal experiences as a Black woman to render bodies often exalted and excluded within her imagined environments. “Collective fantasies surround the Black body and have created a cultural niche in which exists our contemporary understanding of Black femininity,” she says. “My practice is dedicated to naming this phenomenon.” For her most diverse presentation at a museum yet, the Harlem-born artist reveals 19 canvases that exemplify her artistic growth along with several new sculptures that bring her paintings into the third dimension.

It’s hard to imagine David Hockney, of all people, putting a foot out of line in the eyes of the art-world establishment. Every few years, he tops auction charts for works by living artists. His body of work cultivates a utopic nostalgia that transcends place, time, and age. At 85 years old, he’s still practicing his craft. But this week, he incited pearl-clutching among London’s art critics with his latest display of work: an “immersive” projection installation of his paintings, digital art, and set designs.

In the past few years, similar shows have capitalized on the works of Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, Salvador Dalí having entered the public domain. Each attracted widespread critical disdain, but the most damning indictment of the “immersive experience” is its inclusion in every snob’s favorite hate-watch: Emily in Paris. The art world’s eyes are now on David Hockney as he looks to transcend the gimmickry by captaining his own extravaganza at London’s Lightroom.

Founded in the San Cristóbal Lachirioag region of Oaxaca by cousins Edgar Gonzalez Ramirez and Elisandro Gonzalez Molina, Mezcal Tosba is a unique spirit in flavor and origin related to other traditional Oaxacan mezcals. As first-generation mezcaleros, the Gonzalez cousins channeled their time in Silicon Valley to help support the shrinking community within their homeland in the lush oases of Cajonos-Villa Alta in the remote Sierra Juárez mountains.

Surface Says: With Mezcal Tosba, founders Edgar and Elisandro have invested back into their home villages and the distilling tradition all while cultivating an international palette for smooth, fruit-forward mezcal.

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