The post-World War II era was filled with hopes and dreams of creating a new society out of the ashes of the old that combined form and function in esthetic and useful ways. Designers Charles and Ray Eames were at the forefront of modern design changing and elevating how we live by creating beautiful, high quality goods for the masses, forging positive relationships with government and industry, all with the goal of benefiting society.

Painting as crime? Seems freedom of expression in art is subject to police investigation if it makes “someone” uncomfortable.

Wall Street Presents Barack Obama

Day and Night by M. C. Escher hangs at the M. C. Escher Museum in The Hague, Netherlands. It was made from two wood blocks and black ink. At the bottom center, two roads meet at a 90-degree angle. To the left, we see fields, farm buildings and a windmill, and a canal from the river. There is a town to the north of the canal with a bridge over the river, leading to another group of roads, fields and canals. This is the day side. To the right, we see the same things, only on this side it is night. These parts of the print are symmetrical.

Othon Friesz brings a modern twist to the ancient story of Adam and Eve.

As the oil hits the reefs, offshore bars and beaches of the Gulf of Mexico, are we faced with another Exxon Valdez catastrophe? Yes. Can we learn from that disaster in how this ongoing tragedy is documented by artists? Absolutely. Here is some of how we can do it. You may add your suggestions too.

Tanem Davidson’s New Brow: Contemporary Underground Art presents a through line for the development of this uniquely American genre of painting which burst out of Abstract Expressionism through the Pop Art’s screened realism into a chrome flecked, hyper-sexualized, fuel-injected dream state. The icons of childhood–Rat Fink, hot rods, movie monsters, robots, toys, cartoons–conjoin in transgressive, illicit intercourse with tikis, animals, dead presidents, dollar signs, slogans, guns, girls, raw meat, and bombs; characters live in their own universes fraught with action and symbols, caught in moments just before, just after Something Happened.

Donatello’s Maddelena Penitente shows us the pain of separation from the Almighty.

Los Angeles based film director and artist John Roecker created this inspirational short film. It’s an artistic overview and a love letter to Los Angeles, punk rock and the creative spirit, plus a call for everyone to manifest their dreams. Though um, in places it’s NSFW.

The lines between public art and private property are getting blurred in Los Angeles.