Spectrum Fantastic Contemporary Art

Spectrum is a yearly art contest aimed at fantasy and sci-fi artists. Every year, artists submit their art to a panel of judges, who decide who'll be showcased in the Spectrum book. The books have showcased artists such as Justin Sweet, Rene Milot and Andrew Jones. The artists can be of any type or background, well-known or unpublished. Anyone can submit their art.
For more information, the website is spectrumfantasticart.com

Robert Williams

Robert Williams is a well known controversial artist and founder of Juxtapoz magazine. He lives in California and is known for his surreal cartoon-like paintings that often have strange or disturbing themes. He is commonly considered one of the first participants in the contemporary alternative art movement with his style dubbed "lowbrow." He's been in many galleries over the years, worked with musicians, like guns and roses, commissioned many times and is known as the original underground artist.
You can purchase merchandise and see his art at robtwilliamsstudio.com

Tara McPherson

Tara McPherson is an illustrator in New York, famous for her "art about people". She has done poster art and illustrations for advertising, editorial and comics. Her fine art has been in galleries in new york, california and germany, and will be in a gallery in texas in march. She's even been featured in the film Juno. I love the comic book covers featured on her website and her poster art, because they're always so creative.

Her website is taramcpherson.com

Blaine Fontana

Blaine Fontana is an artist in Portland, Oregon. His work includes paintings, sculpture, mixed media illustrations and various graphic design projects. He's been featured in several galleries, mainly in California, and was recently chosen to create a concept car for scion. The brightly colored pieces are usually pretty strange, sometimes with an asian influence; my favorites are his mixed media pieces.
Go to his website here.

Melissa Cole

My art class worked with Melissa Cole around the beginning of winter, so I thought I'd display her although it's not a style of art I usually like. She does bright, textured mixed media paintings of wildlife. Her workshop was a lot of fun because she has such a varied cultural background and had all these stories to tell us about living in India, visiting Mexico and even swimming with dolphins. The techniques for creating texture she taught us were amazing. You really can't understand the whole concept of the painting unless you see it up close in person. She's used everything from grout to rubbing alcohol to create her paintings. She is currently featured in galleries throughout the western united states, including Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and does commissions.

Her website is melissacole.com

Jonathan Viner

Jonathan Viner is an artist residing in New York. He sells prints of both drawings and paintings online and is frequently exhibited. He has been in galleries in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Tokyo, among others. I really like the surreal, almost dreamy quality of his art, which often features sad or serious people in forlorn scenery.
His website is here and his myspace is here.

Juxtapoz Magazine

Juxtapoz magazine is an arts and culture magazine based in San Fransisco. It showcases alternative styles of art and illustration. I love this magazine because it's filled with pages and pages of art from artists with all types of backgrounds. It isn't snooty about art or have rules for what it should be. No articles that go on for pages about theory and what not, just regular artists showing what they do best. And it shows some amazing stuff. Each issue keeps getting better, with this newest february 2009 issue being my favorite so far.

You can find them on their myspace page and their website

Scott Musgrove

Scott Musgrove's work includes "Paintings of Previously Unknown but Now Extinct Animals and Plants" and the comic/cartoon Fat Dog Mendoza, which has aired in roughly 50 countries throughout the world. He has been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles and Seattle.

I really like his unusual creations and creative concepts. You can usually see a hint of a recognizable animal (or two or three or four) in his characters, and yet they're completely his own. & The amount of detail in the paintings enthralls me. It's like you can reach right into it and feel the animal... if it doesn't bite you. It's amazing, go buy a print now.

His website is scottmusgrove.com