A leader among contemporary artists returning to figurative content, Rockman wants to paint what he sees (5) . Taken with the natural world, he studies not only nature's creatures but also the puzzles surrounding them: their origins, survival, adaptability, evolution. Plants and animals are photographed and researched in libraries, their native habitats, or the Bronx Zoo. He delves into taxonomy and molecular biology and has enlisted the help and gained the following of paleontologists, biologists, ecologists, ichthyologists, and other scientists, who provide him clues to the accuracy of his exacting images. He has traveled to the rainforests of Brazil and Guyana in search of authentic specimens and to the South Pacific to sketch the extinct Tasmanian tiger in a local laboratory (6) . He counts Charles Darwin as a mentor. A combination of natural science and fantasy, his work explores the predatory relationship between nature and culture. Inspired equally by scientific curiosity and artistic compulsion, his startling images are at once literal, naturalistic, and entirely imaginary. Challenging the way we see and categorize the world, he questions human-animalnature interaction by creating "in your face" scenarios based on vital popular culture dilemmas, among them genetic engineering and global warming.