Out of This World 1959

Gil Elvgren made "Out of This World", a pin-up illustration, with a playfulness that makes you wonder about process. It’s funny to think about what goes into something like this, where the intent is so immediate. Look at the globe, how it's rendered in soft, hazy blues and pinks, like a dream of travel. It’s so delicate, almost like watercolor, which makes a great contrast with the hyper-real, almost slick handling of the figure, and it's these contrasts that open up the work to broader interpretations. It almost feels like two different images have been fused together; the material handling makes a tension between the commercial and the dream-like. "Out of This World" reminds me of John Currin, who similarly toys with the tropes of figurative painting to make something knowing, funny, and totally contemporary. Maybe it’s art and maybe it's not, but that's what's so good about art.