Artist Maurizio Cattelan duct taped a banana to a wall, titled it "Comedian", and sold 5 editions of the artwork for as much as $150,000 each. Why did it capture our attention, curiosity, and memes? What does it mean?

Empathy is a term we hear a lot, but what does it mean and how does it work? Looking back through art history, we find many moments when art has allowed us to share in the feelings of others, from Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial, to representations of the Buddhist deity Jizō Bosatsu, along with the Röttgen Pietà, Guáman Poma's First New Chronicle and Good Government, the ink drawings of Chittaprosad and Zainul Abedin, the work of Ghana Think Tank, and more.

When Banksy shredded his artwork the moment after it sold at auction, he left many questions unanswered. What are we to make of the stunt?

This is a case for Andy Warhol. You've heard his name. You've seen the Campbell's Soup cans. You might know something about The Factory. But perhaps you've wondered why Andy Warhol gets so much attention or why his work even matters. What's the deal with Warhol, and is he worth your time and consideration? Here's your answer.

This is a case for Mark Rothko. Rectangles after rectangles after rectangles. Rothko was a truly prolific artist who found his groove painting hazy swatches of color and stuck with it until the very end. Maybe you've wondered what the point of it all is, or why he did seemingly the same thing over and over again. Here's your answer. Stay tuned for cases for other artists, living and dead!

The naked and the nude have been frequent subjects for art throughout the history of human creation, and also the frequent subject of censorship. What's wrong with seeing the unclothed human body? And what is its place in art?

For much of human history, people made art by trying to represent the world as it appeared around them. Until about 100 years ago, when a bunch of artists stopped trying to do that. It was shocking then and it still upsets and confounds today. How are we supposed to deal with art completely removed from recognizable objects? And why should we? This is the case for Abstraction. Created by The Art Assignment.

Ai Weiwei has been called an iconoclast, a radical, a voice for the voiceless, and was once named the most powerful artist in the world. Who is Ai Weiwei? And why is he considered one of the most renowned artists of our time?

Sampling, appropriating, borrowing, stealing. Whatever you want to call it, artists have been copying since time immemorial. We look into the history of the practice, and share our theories of why it is done, and what it can offer us.

Sampling, appropriating, borrowing, stealing. Whatever you want to call it, artists have been copying since time immemorial. We look into the history of the practice, and share our theories of why it is done, and what it can offer us.

You’ve heard of Jackson Pollock and know of his infamous “drip paintings,” but what is it that you’re supposed to do when you look at his work today? Why did it cause shockwaves in 1947, and what does it mean now? We explore the life, evolution, and legacy of Jackson Pollock.

EARTHWORKS. LAND ART. EARTH ART. Whatever you call it, we look at what it means to make art out in nature and in the world from the 1960s to today.

You've probably seen a few cubes sitting in an art gallery and questioned why they were there. How could cubes be important? How did we get here? This is the case for Minimalism.

The powerful and privileged have hoarded precious artifacts in museums for centuries, and it's only recently that these treasures were made available to the rest of us. What purpose did museums serve? And why does every city have one today?

Dubious of performance art? Break into a cold sweat when you realize it’s about to begin? There’s a reason. Here we present you with a brief history of performance art and attempt to sway you to its potential charms. Let us know if you buy it. The paintings in the first scene are by Candida Alvarez (www.candidaalvarez.com), from her exhibition 'mambomountain' at Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago. Photo by Tom van Eynde.

Yoko Ono was an established artist before most of the world heard of her in 1968, and she continues to make groundbreaking work to this day. Who is Yoko Ono? What is her work? And why should you take her seriously? This is the case for Yoko Ono.

This week we tackle the intersection of art and our changing climate. Throughout history, art has helped reveal the climate around us and highlight our fragile relationship to it. We look at navigational charts from the Marshall Islands, Katsushika Hokusai’s "Under the Wave off Kanagawa", Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s "Hunters in the Snow", Mali's Great Mosque of Djenné, the Ise Shrine in Japan, steadily sinking Venice, the cave paintings of Lascaux, and Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, among others.

Should art be beautiful? Revisit ancient philosophers' thoughts on beauty and consider why we might be skeptical of beauty today. From The Art Assignment.

The Met Museum in New York is a treasure trove of art, filled with masterpieces of human creativity, but what if it *wasn't* organized geographically or by time period? Is there a better way?