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The article presents information on American painting in the 20th century. Painters in the U.S. during that time, were confused between love and hate for their European colleagues. John Sloan, painter, wanted to look into the souls of cities and find a "distinctly American art." Edward Hopper, painter, was influenced by Sloan. He was willing to combine the best of the two continents. He discovered an affinity for places that time had forgotten. Hopper titled his scenes for the time of day.

The article focuses on the artwork of David C. Hancock entitled "Still Life" which made him a finalist in 2006 painting competition sponsored by the New York art collector Fred Ross in the U.S. Hancock's work is based on the class assignment to paint a still life that contained a glossy white enamel object, a red drapery, and a green background. Hancock said that his secret in painting and making artworks is to paint with feelings.

Photographers tend not to philosophize, perhaps because their lenses have a built-in commitment to visual reality. American James Nicholls is a notable exception. He admits to thinking "globally," so to speak, when he took his extraordinarily arresting photograph of a canal near Agen in the south of France. Engineered as a short cut between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the canal was put out of business by the coming of the railroad. Its purpose gone, the canal became as it is today, a quiet slip of water passing through the countryside bringing reminders of the ocean. On one gorgeous June day, Nicholls stepped onto a small landing platform used as a boat dock on the canal and saw a perspective so miraculous he must have rubbed his eyes. The lush green foliage and its reflection seemed to cut the scene in two. Nicholls had previously photographed images of water and lines converging in the distance as separate subjects, but this was his first opportunity to show both in the same picture.

All artists reveal themselves in all they do. Yet few have embraced the idea as passionately as Lucas Samaras. Born in Macedonia in 1936, Samaras and his family were refugees from the Greek Civil War. Two art world influences, Allen Kaprow and George Segal, gave him a boost, although they had nothing in common with Samaras except an interest in breaking the mold. When his big break — a New York show — came in 1964, his response was to dump the contents of his messy studio apartment in the middle of the gallery — bed, paint rags and all.