Nude with Red Model Airplane 1988

Philip Pearlstein made this nude with a red model airplane with oil paint, but when? It's all about process in this painting, a layering of neutral flesh tones applied in a systematic way, a kind of painting-by-numbers approach. The figure is cropped in a way that emphasizes the geometry of the body and the contrast between organic and inorganic forms. Look at the way the light falls on the model's arm and the way the red of the plane contrasts with the pale skin. The texture is smooth, but there's a visible brushwork in the way the paint is applied. The red airplane seems to mirror the pose of the nude, creating a doubling, an eerie correspondence between the artificial and the real. It's all pretty detached, but in a weirdly compelling way, like a puzzle you can’t quite solve. I am reminded a little of the work of Balthus, both are invested in a strange, almost unheimlich realism.