AOD -- Viviane Sassen

With her background in fashion and her love for world travel, Sassen's new series of photographs from around Africa caught my eye recently and I had to share. Images via Danziger Projects. More on the artist here.

Jane Maxwell --- AOD

Today's artist's collages make me want to go to Los Angeles (and maybe also Vegas?!) See more of her work here.

"Girl on a Stool," 2009

"Our Pick," 2008

"Seated Girls Blue," 2009

"5 Walking Girls," 2008

Amber Boardman -- AOD

I was lucky enough to catch up with my beautifully talented friend Amber this week and I wanted you to get a chance to hear what she's up to lately. She recently curated a video exhibit: "Give Me a Minute," at the Shirey, and you can see a lot of these diverse 60 second pieces here. The show got a great review and response from all walks of the world (especially from the ADD crowd!), and I am so inspired by how she is melding genres of art, music & film all together. I thought I'd also throw in an interview on the artist just to ring home how aces she is.

Scott Eiden -- AOD

From the artist on this photograph, "Hank Williams, Georgiana, Alabama":
"I took this picture at the childhood home of Hank Williams, Sr. This was his boyhood bed, though the curtains were posthumously donated to the home (it's now a little museum/shrine). The curtains were handmade and show the lyrics and music to the song 'Your Cheatin' Heart.'  There's a really wonderful lady who tends to the home and the souvenirs and things. Also, once a year out back, they have a concert of people singing like Hank Sr."

Please note the bold line regarding the curtains. It's blowing my mind. 
More of Scott Eiden's photography here

Youngna Park -- AOD

Youngna Park caught my eye with this city seasonally delightful photograph. I'm buying this piece from 20X200 and you can do the same here. Also, check out more great work from the artist here

Frédéric Noël -- AOD

Today's illustration reminds me of one of my favorite jokes about the absurdity of nursery rhymes. It's when Ricky Gervais speaks to how Humpty Dumpty shouldn't have been rescued by horses (let alone all of them) because, "If you were to construct a perfect egg-crushing device, it would be horses' hooves!"

More work from this wonderful illustrator here

AOD -- Morgan Blair

"Diamond Collection"

Makes me feel like brightness shines through underneath all the snow...
More from the multi-media artist here
via mandr

Jason Karolak -- AOD

I want to fly away in this.

More from today's artist here.

AOD -- Rob Matthews and Tom Edwards

"If Drawings Were photographs – [is] the first ever zine published by It’s Nice That. The brainchild of designer Rob Matthews and Illustrator Tom Edwards, put simply – 'Tom gave drawings to Rob and Rob tried to make them into photographs.'" I'm loving the results!

Check out more from It's Nice That here

Maya Hayuk -- AOD

Not afraid of scale and color, this Brooklyn-based artist really knows how to get my motor running. See more of her exciting work here

via LOUDreams

Remembering Roy DeCarava

"Couples," 1960

"Sun and Shade," 1952

Find out more about this American legend through his book, The Sound I Saw, that features images inspired by his love for jazz and his time spent in Harlem.

A moving tribute to this amazing photographer's life here

Liz Tran -- AOD

"Turning Around," 2009.
Acrylic Ink, Acrylic Paint and Graphite on Panel

"Arch," 2009.
Acrylic Ink, Acrylic Paint and Graphite on Panel

These delightfully colored images remind me of the bending, circular branches on the tree of life (which I have tattooed on my back!). Tran's mixed media pieces hold within them a playful sincerity that sucks me right in. "[The trees] seem to give us permission to risk taking a neon path to joy." -Molly Norris

more here

Chris Jordan -- AOD

"Gyre," 2009
8x11 feet, in three vertical panels

"Gyre" (detail)

This piece depicts 2.4 million pieces of plastic, equal to the estimated number of pounds of plastic pollution that enter the world's oceans every hour. All of the plastic in this image was collected from the Pacific Ocean.

From the artist: "Perhaps these uncomfortable feelings can become part of what connects us, serving as fuel for courageous individual and collective action as citizens of a new kind of global community. This hope continues to motivate my work."

See more troubling & beautiful images here

(thanks to sam and trish for this link)

Edward Burtynsky -- AOD

"SOCAR Oil Fields #3, Baku, Azerbaijan, 2006," Chromogenic color print.

"Oil Fields #22, Cold Lake Production Project, Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada," 2001.

Today's artist somehow captures the intrusion of oil in our natural landscape and creates visually pleasing (and equally disturbing) images. Check out his current show at the Corcoran and more on his artist's website here.

Anastasia Khoroshilova -- AOD

photographs from the "Toys" series, 2006

more wonderful work at the artist's website here

Vik Muniz -- AOD

"Atlas (Carlão)," digital c-print, 2008

Multi-media Brazilian artist Vik Muniz captured my eye today (and has in the past with his famous Peanut Butter & Jelly Mona Lisa!)

"Double Mona Lisa (PB & J)," 1999

catch more of his recent work here

Mona Hatoum -- AOD

"Grater Divide,"2002, steel, 80 5/16 x 1 3/8 in.

Today's artist captures my craving for cheese on a large scale...
More about her here

Jorge Macchi -- AOD

"Nocturno, variación sobre el Nocturno No. 1 de Erik Satie," 2002; paper and nails

"Untitled (Cool love)," 1997; watercolor and pencil on paper; collection of Luis Augusto Teixeira, Lisbon

More great work here

AOD -- Shara Hughes

"Intervention," 2009

"You Lost You," 2009

I am privileged to know today's artist and excited to share with you some of her recent paintings! Check out her new snazzy website for more beauty.

Mary Lum -- AOD

"Multiple Cities #2," acrylic on plywood, 2007

Image via carroll and sons


"Condition 1," acrylic on panel, 2008

Image via frederieke taylor gallery

From today's artist: "When walking or driving in the city it is sometimes possible to detect the poetic subconscious of the place, the thing we cannot see but can only occasionally access through feeling. The sharp attention required for this experience comes from extensive looking (for nothing in particular), walking without distraction but implicitly always distracted."