Starfucker 

Curator: Oh my, this painting by Troy Brooks. It's called "Starfucker." It feels like a fever dream, doesn't it? Editor: Yes, absolutely striking. Immediately, I'm caught by the juxtaposition of what seems like a latex dress—certainly synthetic and very 20th century—transitioning into something organically… aquatic. What a contrast in textures and origins. Curator: Exactly! The figure herself… I'm getting silent film star vibes, or perhaps a high fashion alien queen. There's something beautifully unsettling in those elongated features, that otherworldly gaze. Editor: Well, think about it—the material composition amplifies this effect. We have this glossy, man-made surface hugging her torso, giving way to those unsettling octopus tentacles. Brooks is highlighting the performance of identity through constructed materials. It's a bold claim about how we present ourselves, quite literally, supported by the sea, or the unseen depths, even. Curator: I agree, there is this unsettling beauty here, a merging of the elegant and the monstrous. Is she seducing, suffocating, or both? The ambiguity keeps drawing me back. She also reminds me of those beautiful, but somewhat dangerous, femme fatales from David Lynch’s works. Editor: Consider also, curator, the time that's been poured into rendering textures – the delicate porcelain skin, the gleam of the latex, those pearls! Nothing in the composition suggests a fast production cycle. This is painstakingly, lovingly laboured-over artwork. We see that in tension, too, with themes that might suggest consumerism, waste or fast fashion. Curator: Well, I read it differently. Her gaze speaks of knowing more than we ever could. The pearls may be a cage. Or maybe, just maybe, they are tears after what we may not survive. She almost feels protective despite what you see! Editor: Perhaps it’s in that protective layer, in that tension, where the real fascination lies, you're right. Curator: A mesmerizing piece; one of those artworks you can stare at forever, discovering something new each time. Editor: And that careful crafting of visual deception truly lets the emotional layers surface! We all, I guess, contain a multitude, elegantly presented or monstrously revealed.