Aureola 

Troy Brooks painted 'Aureola', and it is oil on canvas. The surface is remarkably smooth, almost airbrushed, and there is a high degree of finish. This gives the figure an immaculate, almost synthetic quality, as though she has been assembled from ready-made components. It is a very contemporary aesthetic, but it also alludes to techniques used in commercial illustration. This painting is not photorealist, but the process does result in a similar effect, creating a kind of ‘hyper-reality.’ The work is not labor intensive in the traditional sense, like a sculpture that requires hours of carving. But its effect depends on hours of careful labor and a very high degree of control. In the end, that is the quality that delivers the meaning, and Brooks delivers a challenge to our received notions of what craft and fine art can be.