Perhaps the most entertaining feature of Windows 7 is its truly whacked-out desktop backgrounds --- a weird combination of Sergeant Pepper-style psychedelics, Japanese anime, and some Hieronymus Bosch grotesques. I've got information about the artists behind the art, as well as screenshots.
The Engineering Windows 7 blog has an excellent post about why the backgrounds were created, and with links to the artists. To find the artists, Microsoft worked with the agency 72 and Sunny.
My favorite artwork, below, was created by Yuko Kondo, who was born in Japan, but now lives in London. You can find plenty more work on Yuko's site.
I find the desktop background, below, particularly weird and compelling. On the surface, it's simply funny, but I find it a little bit creepy as well. This one is from Punga in Buenos Aires.
The background below seems like the unnatural spawn of Hieronymus Bosch and a refugee from the old-time Disney studios. It was created by Klaus Haapaniemi of Finland, who's now based in London
The last of my favorites, below, seems to me like some kind of claymation version of medieval art --- as envisioned by a mad cartoonist. It was created by Chris Sickles of Red Nose Studios, from Indiana.
Links to the artists are here;
http://www.yukokondo.com/http://www.punga.tv/http://www.bigactive.com/illustration/klaus-haapaniemihttp://www.rednosestudio.com/For more on other artists follow this link;
http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/05/02/a-little-bit-of-personality.aspx
