All That Glitters 2008

Nelson Shanks painted this scene, All That Glitters, in his studio, using what looks like thin layers of oil paint. The title is interesting given the fairly muted tones of the composition. It seems that the artist is more concerned with a naturalistic approach to representing the figure and the assortment of props that surround her. I like the way that the artist is unafraid to leave traces of the process visible across the composition. Take the blue paint, for example, peeking through on the table. The colours are carefully chosen. The artist sets up a chain of visual echoes that connect the different elements together. The red shoes and the necklace repeat the shade of the rug. In this way, the scene is unified, without being overly perfect. The painting reminds me of Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe, not so much in subject matter, but in its commitment to representing real bodies in a real space without excessive idealization. Like Manet, Shanks invites us to look, without necessarily knowing what to think, embracing ambiguity over any fixed meaning.