$newsid = ''; ?> Maureen likes Brandon Bird and I do too, but I think I prefer Isabel Samaras.
Maybe that makes me a lowbrow -- I think Samaras is the better painter (disparaged these days), and her high-culture references are easily identifiable, while her low-culture references are comfortable late-boomer nostalgia (none of Bird's tacky Mr. T, thank you). And of course Samaras makes herself accessible by playing the sex card, both in het T&A form and as fashionably homoerotic K/S.
But Bird has his sublime moments, too. (Samaras via Matt Fraction.)
(Update: I'm not as fond of them as of her fine art-inspired work, but Samaras has postcards and an "activity book" based on her Devil Babe series available through Amazon.)