Vermilion 

Editor: So, we're looking at "Vermilion" by Julie Bell, an oil painting. The flamingos are certainly eye-catching, and the draping fabric is equally vivid. What's striking to me is the tactile quality Bell achieves. How do you approach a piece so clearly focused on rendering? Curator: I think it’s crucial to examine the social and economic context surrounding its production and reception. Bell is well known for heroic fantasy and the role of female representation in a heavily male-dominated sector. Here, the treatment of the figure alongside the flamboyance, pardon the pun, of flamingos makes me wonder about what is being sold. It is both fantasy and real; it has an almost performative femininity with a very controlled staging. Editor: Performative, that's a good way of putting it. It highlights the material conditions of making the image, like the costuming or model. It’s a painted artifice. How much do you think Bell plays with this awareness? Curator: Absolutely, we have to ask who gets to control the image and how does it function in the economy of image production. Here, she is also the creator and that creates agency. Notice the oil paint itself, how its manipulation creates not only form but a type of commodity fetish – consider the texture of the fabric, or the implied softness of the flamingos' feathers. It invites a sort of ownership through looking and perhaps, buying. Do you see how the application of paint itself becomes part of the artwork’s meaning, influencing how we, as viewers, engage with it? Editor: That’s a really compelling perspective. So the real subject isn't just what's depicted but also how the materials are used to shape our consumption. Curator: Precisely! It makes me rethink what "Realism" really means today, as indicated in the tags. It's not about truthful representation, but the labor, materiality, and consumption, all brought to the forefront. Editor: This makes me appreciate the artist's technique a lot more and consider my own position as the audience. Thank you.