This figurative painter’s dreamy style might be described as Photoshop realism. Burnished cheekbones and glossy pouts accessorize models—young, mostly white women—whose moods range from melancholy to detached. Their bright outfits and patterned backdrops illustrate the fashion do’s of mixing prints. Oil paint applied with invisible brushstrokes exaggerates the touched-up perfection of dewy complexions and luxury textiles. A related series of works on paper, installed salon style in the back room, are less polished but just as seductive. But do the distant expressions on these lovely faces signal a critique of the Madison Avenue ideals they embody, or are they—as seems more likely—simply part of the look?
— Johanna Fateman