Michael Parkes painted *Magic Pearl* with the traditional material of oil paint on panel. The smoothly blended surfaces and the detailed realism give the work a glossy finish, a surface quality that’s at odds with the subject matter. The mermaid, the pearl, the rocks, the fishes – all of it evokes the natural world, and yet the painting has a contrived, manufactured feel. Look closely, and you’ll notice the precision in the mermaid’s scales, the careful rendering of the water’s surface. This is not a quickly dashed-off sketch, but a laboriously crafted image, born of countless hours of skilled work. It has a slickness that calls to mind advertising or commercial illustration, which also relies on a high degree of visual seduction. It's this play between the natural and the artificial that makes *Magic Pearl* so compelling, challenging the viewer to reconsider the value we place on both fine art and craft.