Shanghai Lily 

Troy Brooks painted ‘Shanghai Lily’ using oil on canvas. Oil paint is a traditional fine art medium, known for its capacity to describe surfaces in illusionistic detail. Here, it’s used to create a hyper-real image of a woman, but she is more like a mannequin, her skin like porcelain, her features exaggerated in a way that recalls dolls and fashion illustration. The velvet jacket, rendered with painstaking realism, also reminds us of textiles, fashion and labor. Brooks isn't using cutting-edge techniques, nor new industrial materials, but he's clearly interested in fashion and its industry. The smooth and seamless surface of the painting hides all evidence of the artist's hand, which contributes to the image’s sense of artificiality. Oil paint can be used to celebrate the virtuosity of the artist, but here, it's in the service of a hyper-real aesthetic. This challenges conventional distinctions between fine art, illustration and fashion photography, pointing to broader social issues of beauty and consumption.