"I divide my work into two categories, B.C. and A.D., before computers, after digital." So states Lynn Hershman, one of the most celebrated artists working in interactive media technologies; her digital art is so interactive that it requires participants, not viewers. Hershman explores the invasion

Cd-rom, Erotic, In-your-face, Interactive installation, Layered, Net art, Pioneering, Political, Self-reflection, Visceral

It is the rare novelist who can elicit a contract for his death, but Salman Rushdie managed to do precisely that with a Postmodern, playful rumination on religion and politics that made Islamic literalists gnash their teeth and ready their Kalashnikovs. Born on the eve of India's declaration of indep

Dense, Epic, Excessive, Expansive, Magical realism, Playful, Political, Post-colonial literature, Postmodern fiction, Profane, Round, Sprawling, Wise assy

Playwright, professor, and Performance artist Anna Deveare Smith grounds her avant-garde theater in the infinitely strange world of reality. "I look for the poem that the person is," Smith says of the real-people inspirations for her dramatic characters. Instead of creating intricate backgrounds for

Collage, Huge, Layered, Open-ended, Political, Polychromatic, Sincere, Social protest, Solo performance

Like an avenging angel invading the capital of high culture, Pablo Picasso came to Paris to confront the establishment and write himself across the face of modernity. He viewed art as a way of recreating himself, and invented -- only to later shed -- any number of artistic styles. The young Picas

Cubism, Distorted, Figurative painting, Geometric, Kinetic, Mythic, Perverse, Political, Polychromatic, Primal