Night Flight 

Editor: Here we have Michael Parkes’ "Night Flight", an oil painting described as fantasy or surrealist art. It feels so dreamlike! What do you see in this piece, looking at its making? Curator: I'm struck by the deliberate layering of oil paint. You see the translucent glazes building up the skin tones, contrasted by the crisp, almost hyperrealistic depiction of the swans. It draws attention to the artifice of representation. Look at how the rendering aims to give the impression of photo-realism but clearly falls into the surreal. It begs us to consider the means by which this illusion of fantasy is created. Editor: So you mean how Parkes uses materials and his method to kind of, reveal the trick, or question reality? Curator: Precisely! How do these highly worked surfaces make you feel about the division between high art and perhaps, commercial illustration, considering fantasy art's popular appeal and avenues of dissemination, for example, as prints or book covers? The oil medium is associated with old masters. How does this conscious selection influence the art, its context and, dare I say it, its 'value'? Editor: I never thought about how his material choice sort of elevates fantasy, and brings those questions to light! Fascinating. I learned a lot about considering the social context through the means of production, thank you! Curator: Likewise. Looking at art this way gives us a powerful lens. The focus on material is how art both affects, and is affected by, the social.