Henri Rousseau

Jaguar eating black guy, jaguar eating horse, jaguar about to eat black guy's family, ssssnake charmer, ssssssneaky jaguar: Jungle paintings.
 

Metropolis II

Chris Burden's gigantic kinetic sculpture at LACMA.

 

Jodi

Dutch Internet art collective: Jodi.
 

The end of the world

Clive Thomson writes for Wired sometimes, and his blog Collision Detection deals with science and culture, with an emphasis on technology. Here is his review of the end of the world (sort of).

He drops a couple of $5 words:

eschatology: a branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of humankind

ludology: the study of games and other forms of play. More specifically today, the study of video games, in an academic or critical light.

Amy Bennett

Amy Bennett paints from small scale models of imagined towns. In her own words (highlighting is mine):

"For my previous project I constructed a fictional model neighborhood. I considered who lived in each home, their family dramas, and the way their private lives might spill into view of their neighbors. The model became a stage on which to develop the psychological implications of belonging to a particular family, with all of its dramas, struggles and familiar routines. I thought: this tree will be taken down after an old man crashes into it; a father will transform this lawn into an ice skating rink; this house will be abandoned after its residents are scandalized on the evening news. As I transitioned my model into winter, snowbanks of increasing depth seemed to fortify a sense of isolation and quietness. The paintings portray both the magical and suffocating potential of snow, wonder at its stark beauty and hopelessness that spring might never come."

Windosill

This is Patrick Smith.

He just released Windosill, which is like Myst done by Salvador Dali. Simply weird, yet weirdly simple.