Most of our faithful fans know that we here at EK do what we do simply for the love of Art. And if you don't know, now you know. We originally started our site to share our love of Art with the world, but it grew quickly from a fun side project to an intense, all-consuming labor of love, and now, we have been blessed with this beautiful baby whose life it is our job to nurture and grow in a positive, impactful way. Our dream is to be a 90/10 company, meaning we donate 90% of our company's net income and keep only 10%. Take a moment to think about how retardedly difficult that sounds. There isn't a businessman in the world who'd invest in a business plan like that.

Eyvind Earle (April 26, 1916 – July 20, 2000) was an American artist, author and illustrator, noted for his contribution to the background illustration and styling of Disney animated films in the 1950s. He began his prolific career at the age of ten when his father, Ferdinand Earle, gave him a challenging choice: read 50 pages of a book or paint a picture every day. Earle choose both.

EK is looking for you! (image credit: Brooke Golightly) Yes, it is true -we are opening up another round of call for collaborators, and you just might fit the bill.

Malcolm Browne is most famous for his Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of the self-immolation of Thích Quảng Đức, a Buddhist monk who was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnam's Roman Catholic government. Browne passed away last Monday, August 27th, of complications from Parkinson's disease at the age of 81. Originally hailing from New York City, New York, Browne first delved into journalism after being drafted into the Korean War, and within two decades, his work would capture the collective experience and sentiments of an entire generation in turmoil, striving for global change.

This is undeniably a one of the most significant group portraits ever to be taken marking a milestone in the history of Jazz, one of America's greatest inventions of innovation and creativity. On a warm August morning in 1958, avid jazz-enthusiast and photographer Art Kane (April 9, 1925 – February 3, 1995) gathered 57 jazz musicians (without cell phones, Facebook, email, Twitter, etc.) in Harlem, New York for a one-of-a-kind group portrait consisting of some of the most influential figures in Jazz, including Art Blakey, Count Basie, Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Mary Lou Williams, and Marian McPartland.

Pablo Picasso was a world-reknown painter, sculptor and contemporary artist - one of the most influential figures of the art world in the 20th century, and founder of the cubist movement. His art ranges from the simplistic to the spectacular, and his peculiar view of the world is captured in this fascinating LIFE magazine series of 1949, "Pablo Picasso Draws with Light."

Adolf Hiremy-Hirschl (1860-1933) is a Hungarian artist whose mastery in the arts has been unjustly obscured in history, (much like the Korean war) I mean Jesus Christ, he doesn't even have his own Wikipedia page!   Thank God for Empty Kingdom and our mausoleum, as part of our mission is to allow our artists to live forever within these hallowed halls.

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On November 7th 1913 one of the most absurd men took his first breath, the ethical Albert Camus. Personally this author, labeled philosopher, absurdist was one of my biggest influences in a post-modern existentialist era. Celebrating his birth, I’ve laid down a handful of his personal quotes and some from his books.

(photo credit: Marc West) Hello beautiful people! Last year our impromptu Top 100 mega-post spread like wildfire on the internet, causing both acclamation and controversy (although none of the artists we selected seemed to argue with us)  ...so you better believe we're gearing up for another mega-post featuring our top one hundred favorite artists shared on our website in 2011! This time we want your help.

"Find what you love." -Steve Jobs

I wonder if Henry purposely waited a day past his birthday to die?  In any case Mr. Darger's story is a strange and interesting one.  He was a reclusive American writer and artist who worked as a custodian in Chicago, Illinois.  He has become famous for his posthumously discovered 15,145-page, single-spaced fantasy manuscript called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion,

A new addition to EK's Collection of the Dead, (and our way of making sure the great live forever) -Lucian Freud (12.08.22 – 07.20.11) was a British painter and a "bohemian of the old school," who would set up his studios in squalid neighborhoods, developed a Byronic reputation as a rake and gambled recklessly (“debit stimulates me,” he once said).

Hello beautiful people around the world, get your resumes and portfolios ready, because Empty Kingdom wants you.

(Photo by: Matteo Larghi) Hi, nice to see your face again... how are you?  It has been a while, hasn't it?  Feels like a lifetime since we last touched... and not being in your arms has caused us unbearable pain.  But after enduring a period of seemingly infinite agony, we are finally. together. again.

(Art by: Nam June Paik, 1932 - 2006) In tribute and in honor of the fallen, EMPTY KINGDOM presents The Mausoleum. For the cherished and admired artists who have passed on, we offer them a special place within our empty kingdom to ensure their immortality.

George Tooker was an American figurative painter whose work was usually identified with Social Realism and Magic (Magical) Realism, which is a little less known outside art circles.

As we near the Holidays, expect all your favorite sites to be wishing you well.  Well, we're beating them to the punch by saying Thank You right now! In the beginning, there was a group of artists who wanted a way to share their inspirations with the world.  And thus, Empty Kingdom was born, and it has been a labor of love for all the people involved.   We are a completely volunteer-driven site, and the only reward we get is the comments and shared love from our readers.  While it is tough to keep the site going when we're also busy trying to make it as artists ourselves, it is because of you that it's totally worth it. When we started we knew had something special, but never expected it to be so successful so fast.  It's crazy because we are doing better numbers then most the art sites that inspired us to begin with!  And we know it is all because of our lovely readers who have been so faithful and supportive.  We truly believe that we are nothing without you, so remember that.  We take nothing for granted, and if we could massively fellate all of you, we would. Empty Kingdom is not just a company or a collection of artists, it's a culture we are working to create together.  You can expect big things from us next year, because 2011 is the year of the Star. We will be drinking shots in honor of you all at our annual company dinner next month. Love, The Empty Kingdom Staff

The late Benoît Mandelbrot (1924 – 2010) was a Franco-American mathematician who is considered the "father of fractal geometry." What is fractal geometry? That's exactly what I said.

Satoshi Kon, the genius Japanese animator, passed away at the tender age of 47.