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The French painter Georges Seurat did no have much time on this earth. He died at 31. But three decades was enough to produce a body of work that still dazzles its viewers. New York's Museum of Modern Art now presents an exhibit that traces the development of Seurat's sketches and drawing. The show runs through January 7, 2008. But regardless of whether you make it to Manhattan, the companion webpage calls out for a lingering visit. Richly designed, loaded with content, it's a visual treat in itself. Broken into three primary parts—sketchbooks, conservation, and subjects—each section includes images, history, background, and commentary on the Gallic artiste. We particularly liked paging through Seurat's worn notebooks. The images they contain, sketches of trees, men in straw hats, the arc of a church entryway, a young girl, are simple and luminous.

It's a beautiful world for you and for Mark "We Are Not Men, We Are Devo" Mothersbaugh. While children of the '80s may know him for his flowerpot-headed punk band, Mothersbaugh has been creating rubber stamp designs, ink illustrations, screen printing, decals, and mail art since he was a kid. His current illustrations are organized into two galleries on this site. The Postcard Diaries represent an "obsessive habit/hobby" where he's been drawing about one a day for 30 some odd years. Whether mixing Mexican wrestling with medical diagrams, making subtle political statements, or creating wacky characters, each postcard is colorful and tinged with a vintage advertising feel. The Beautiful Mutants gallery takes old photographs and turns them into weird Rorschach test-style distortions "using a combination of both antiquarian hand-crafting and modern computer technology." Pug #1 barely looks like a dog, and Pirate Jack has become one psychedelic Chihuahua. The Rotten Lads appear disturbingly undisturbed, as does the Bride With Calla Lilies. If you're through being cool, you can buy one of these hot potatoes for yourself. Whip it good, indeed.

Last week, The New York Times flung open the gates to its once restricted "Times Select" program. Since then, we've indulged in many excursions among the treasure contained within. One of our most cherished finds so far is Mixed Emotions, a comics blog from Israeli artist and illustrator Rutu Modan.

Rutu's blog launched in May and currently features just three entries—Queen of the Scottish Fairies, The Most Popular Girl in Warsaw, and A Family Bargain. (Shouldn't there be more?) The storytelling and drawings are so irresistible, though, and Rutu's use of the web format so intriguing, that we wanted to feature her in our Profiles series.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get in touch with Rutu for an interview. However, there are things we know about her already. Her newest book, the graphic novel "Exit Wounds," follows a Tel Aviv cab driver in search of his father. (It's been met with glowing reviews.) She co-founded the Israeli comics collective Actus Tragicus, and once served as editor of the Israeli edition of MAD magazine. Read the full profile...