bryan: the cover for the single the Trooper (by Iron Maiden) by Derek Riggs because
it rules you... 666, suckers...

Joel Jensen: Well, favorite is too strong a term, but here's a painting I like:
"The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymous Bosch.

Mark Kalar: Marcel Duchamp's sculpture "Fountain." It pissed off the oxymoronic art
world establishment, challenged the way we view art, the way we view everyday objects, and engaged a whole lot of typically disinterested non-artists in the dialogue about the role of art and artists in society. On the down side, it pretty much sounded the death knell for innovation in the visual arts.

Stephen McClurg: Hieronymous Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights." With these kinds of questions, I have to place limitations on what I can choose from or else
face an anxiety attack. Yeah, I know I'm an idiot. For this particular question, I decided strictly to go with a painting because painting is what first came to mind when I read "visual art." I had to leave out comics, cartoons, movies, photos, album covers, sketches, drawings, etc., even though I deal with these areas of visual art more frequently than painting. If would have tried to pick from this infinite realm of visual art, I may have had to go to the hospital.

Why the most famous Bosch painting? Because it is the first painting I remember staring at for long periods of time. This painting is also responsible for my first memories of being "moved" or "enthralled" by a piece of art. Bosch also introduced me to the horrorific and the surreal, which were probably the basic elements leading to my enthrallment. At the
time, my conception of art was Garfield or Peanuts or other books of comics
that were gobbled up like Halloween candy. With "The Garden of Earthly
Delights," easy consumption is an impossibility.

(special Boschy bonus: Bosch toys)

Keith Pille: As usual, I'm going to offer up something that marks me as a total Minnesota homer: "Collage IX," by George Morrison. Morrison was an abstract artist who lived on the shore of Lake Superior, and the big lake informed his work pretty heavily. He has a lot of great paintings, but "Collage IX" is really a treat. It's actually a collage of driftwood that Morrison found on the lakeshore, fitted together like a big puzzle. At first, it just looks like a bunch of wood, but if you stare long enough, you start to see the lines of a lakeshore landscape. It loses a little if you look at the online version, but trust me, it's hella cool in person. It hangs in the museum where I work, and that definitely counts as a fringe benefit.

I also strongly thought about picking The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke, which is about as beautiful a work of illustration as you'll ever see. But I talk about comics enough around here.

Don Pizarro: At the risk of being labeled a complete tool by some, I'd have the say that poster of the Silver Age Justice League done by Alex Ross, released in 2003, I think. Sure, he wasn't the first person to paint superheroes in comics, but he was the first person I've seen to make them distinct individuals (to the extent that he used different models). I never get sick of looking at it.

Simon Riordan: I have enjoyed a painting by an old friend, Dan Ezra Lang. Bird's eye view of The Loop in Chicago - one in a series, or so I'm told. It was given to my brother as a wedding gift, but has made been making the sibling rounds in Minneapolis for the past five years. It ain't famous (yet), but it's original. Check out recent stuff at delstudios.net.

Jonathan Shipley: Bosch, Hieronymous Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights." I imagined myself, when I saw it at the Prado in Madrid, to be a little figure in the "Hell" portion of the painting. To find me...There's this big weird no-butt guy right in the middle that has two tree-like legs that end in boats, one leg per boat. I'm in the boat on the right. I'm wearing a cloak. Cloaks are cool.

Amethyst Vineyard: Remedios Varo's 'The Creation of the Birds'. Because humanoid bird-woman, strange machinery: fun! What more could you want from the other female surrealist from Mexico? You know, the one that hasn't been played by Salma
Hayek yet.