Beauty on the Rocks 

Arthur Sarnoff painted "Beauty on the Rocks" using oil on canvas, a traditional medium that’s been around for centuries. Oil paint is made by mixing pigments with oil, usually linseed, which allows for a slow drying time and the ability to create rich, layered effects. Sarnoff uses it here with a smoothness that is almost photographic. This wasn't paint applied alla prima - wet-on-wet - but rather built up slowly in thin glazes, giving it a slick, almost mass-produced feel. Sarnoff’s career was largely in commercial illustration, for magazines like *Esquire* and *Playboy*. His technique is so accomplished, and perhaps that's the problem: it's as if he’s trying to turn paint into a printed image. "Beauty on the Rocks" is a skillful piece of eye candy, but you have to wonder whether that was really the point. The labor is evident, but perhaps spent in the service of something a little too easily consumed.