In a surreal world, Greg Craola Simkins offers a message from our sponsor.

Growing up, Greg Craola Simkins always had a pencil in his hand, and his parents constantly encouraged him to express himself artistically. He also had lots of rabbits hanging around his childhood home. Since then, he has since discovered a way to use his background to his advantage. Instead of letting his parents’ prodding go to waste, Simkins worked his way into an art career, with rabbits frequently popping up as if to usher an unseen Alice back to Wonderland.
 
As he developed, Simkins advanced steadily from drawing in sketchbooks and on tabletops of butcher paper to spray painting blank walls and train cars to creating illustrations for clothing and video games to painting with acrylic paint. Each step along the way, Simkins has soaked up his medium, learning and developing his craft into something that cannot be ignored. Today, his hard work has paid off in dollars and cents, as his talents have been called upon by Disney, Mattel, Vans shoe company, and bands like the Gym Class Heroes.

What do his pieces say? How do they have such appeal? Good questions.

Read more: There Is Something Bigger

Case in point: Tibetan artist Gade.

Few actions enrage a large group of people faster than tampering with long-standing religious symbols, icons, and figures. For some reason, Tibetan artist Gade can walk the streets without dodging hurled stones in his native Tibet, despite taking jabs at the centuries-old culture that surrounds him.

Having perfected his ability to paint traditional Tibetan pieces, Gade recently turned his paintbrush toward more current subjects. However, he did not modify or water down his painting style in the process. His paintings still look as if they’ve been buried underground for hundreds of years, but unlike “Spirit Beings on a Yak Hide Raft,” Gade’s new work is created with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek. In the center of his traditional-looking pieces, where Buddha would typically sit stern but gentle, is Batman, Ronald McDonald, Mickey Mouse, the Incredible Hulk, Spiderman. They’re usually sitting Buddha-style and looking rather peaceful. The exception is the Hulk, who is practically jumping off of the canvas, foaming at the mouth with anger. Gade can’t be faulted for this, as the Hulk has never been pictured at rest.

Read more: Art Holds Nothing Sacred

Like so many born in the 1930s, Elizabeth Enders was resourceful—so much that she found a way around the need for images in her artwork.

There has long been a divide within and without the art community. While some art has obvious merit in the eyes of art lovers and detractors alike (e.g. Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment,” Van Gogh’s “Irises,” da Vinci’s “The Last Supper), a few artists wind up creating such seemingly simple pieces that certain members of the art community and the majority of those beyond its borders sneer. As if it is not art at all, but rather some imitation or mockery of art. Elizabeth Enders is one such case.

But don’t think there is nothing to like about Enders, because there is plenty—regardless of your opinion of her body of work. All of her pieces don’t insult people’s art sensibilities. A number of her works are obvious portrayals of their subjects. In “Yellow Anemone/Purple Veronica II,” Enders gives exactly what the title suggests to her viewers. The flowers are drawn with all of the necessary details and none of the extraneous details that slow so many pieces down. It is quaint, folksy, familiar. And it receives the blessing of viewers, whether intentionally or subconsciously and in a patronizing manner.

Read more: Squeeze Enders, Get Lemonade

Art has typically been made to challenge and bring pleasure to the human race. In Edward Tufte’s eyes, people aren’t not the only ones who ought to be considered.
 
According to many, Edward Tufte is a genius. Business Week magazine even went so far as to call him the “Galileo of graphics,” and Martin Kemp of Nature bestowed the title of “The world’s leading analyst of graphic information” upon the artistic thinker. His insights into what the art world is currently presenting and has presented in the past to those with eyes to see is unparalleled. Equally as impressive are his infectious, meticulous art books and sculptures. However, it is his passion of how his pieces survive in the elements that make his work reach beyond the thick-walled structure of the typical art community.

Read more: For Birds and Snowstorms

Following a close inspection of Damien Hirst’s work, only one thing is certain: nothing is certain. Except death.

Death and taxes, death and taxes. The only things in life that are certain. Of these two certainties, Damien Hirst addresses one with regularity. Instead of dancing around death in an effort to ease the message, he goes straight at it. Occasionally, this brings viewers face to face with a skeleton or two dancing about, but viewers aren’t given images of people. Yet somehow, Hirst’s death force is undeniable and strong.

Read more: Nothing Is Certain

By Duane Hanson’s standards, nothing was as real as home. And no other place could nourish his sculpting creativity.

Fascinated with the human body, sculptor Duane Hanson spent nearly all of his artistic talents in creating sculptures that featured human beings. Cast using real-life people, Hanson’s pieces were always the right size and shape, their skin tones and other flares made perfect by Hanson’s near fanaticism of perfection. While he spent some time in New York, he quickly realized his need of Florida’s sun was more powerful than any lure that a more artistic surrounding could offset. For his realization and action, all should be grateful.

Read more: Home Is Where the Art Is