There are two mutually exclusive opinions regarding jazz musician Ornette Coleman. By some he is considered a visionary genius, representing the "third spur" of the Modernist revolution -- "a shift in approach to melody and rhythm to match Coltrane's skyscraping harmonics and Cecil Taylor's introduct

Deconstructive, Formless, Free/avant-garde, Hard bop/post-bop, Layered, Polychromatic, Sprawling

The work of Jacob Lawrence brings African American history to the walls of museums and galleries when many American schools neglect to bring it into the classroom. Early in life, he became a student of African American history and depicted its richness in his colorful narratives: the "Toussaint L'Ouv

African american fiction, Composed, Eclectic, Geometric, Harlem renaissance art, Mythic, Polychromatic

One of America's most critically acclaimed filmmakers for more than 20 years, Scorsese has won worldwide plaudits with a body of work that is informed by his Italian-American Catholic upbringing. As a young man, Scorsese decided to enter the priesthood, but dropped out of seminary after his first yea

Open-ended, Polychromatic, Surreal, Tense

Five months after "The God of Small Things" hit the stands, Arundhati Roy took the stage and accepted Britain's most prestigious literary honor, the Booker Prize. This was a day of multiple firsts: not only was Roy the first non-expatriate Indian author to take home the award, she also was the first

Lush, Playful, Polychromatic, Post-colonial literature, Sensual