Welcome to the premiere issue of afasJournal.com. Although it's our second issue, in a sense, this is our first "real" issue because it is the first that was conceived and executed digitally. Our name is afasJournal.com and while we are not funded by the AFAS organization, its activities and the work of its members is prominent in our publication. There are a number of reasons for this. First and not coincidently, I am a member and have been for over 20 years. Second, the organization's membership represents many of the finest automotive fine artists working today. That's not to say that there are no fine artists that are not members. In fact there are many and we welcome them and look forward to presenting their work in our publication. However there is no escaping the fact that the AFAS and its members have contributed immensly to the advancement and acceptance of automotive themed art as "fine" art. And that is the mission of our publication: the presentation of our art as a "fine" art. The roots of automotiove themed art are undeniably commercial in nature. The first automotive themed painting or drawing was executed 12 minutes after the first car was built. And automotive fine artists have worked for 100 years to distance themselves from both advertising and engineering based art in an effort to present art with a message that goes beyond "here is XYZ car and isn't it lovely". And that is also what we want to celebrate: fine art. Automotive fine art that is in pursuit of art that can be, in of itself, completely separated from its subject. It's true that automotive themed art may never accomplish that goal because the subject is inexorably tied to the perception of the viewer. But in this respect, automotive themed art is no different than equine art or bird art or even art of people lying on the beach... at some point, we can hope that the art is appreciated for its art value, not its subject matter. And finally I'd like to thank Jack Juratovic the editior of our predecessor publication for laying the groundwork that set the stage for our online publication. And thanks also to all the others... Michael, Lindsay, James, Cathy... who's work made this first issue reality. August, 2010 Jay Koka Publisher PS: our next issue planned for February 2011 will feature a FEEDBACK column... your turn to tell us what's on your mind... we hope to hear from you.