Burlesque

A heap of green fruit tumbles across this canvas like something caught between ripening and rotting. Glenn Brown, the British painter behind "Burlesque," built his reputation on borrowing images from other artists and reworking them into something uneasy and unfamiliar. The strokes here look thick enough to touch, swirling and curling as if the paint were still wet, but the actual surface is perfectly flat. That is the whole trick. Brown paints these textures with such care that your eyes believe in a depth that simply is not there.

Set against a moody, sea green sky that seems ready to storm, the fruit gives off a strange glow that feels more like a dream than a bowl on a kitchen table. Still life has been a favorite subject for centuries, a way for painters to prove they could capture the ordinary world with skill. Brown twists that old tradition into something melting and slightly grotesque, leaving you unsure whether you are seeing beauty or decay. Painted in 2000, this work fits neatly into his career as a Turner Prize nominee and one of the more provocative names in contemporary British art. Let your gaze follow the liquid loops of paint and enjoy the clever illusion he has set up.