Supercalifragilistic, super realistic. Yadadadadadada (singing).
Wait, wait. What? The artist Malcolm Morley is known for creating the style known as super realism. Take a close look at the work. Go on. I'll wait. See how every part of the canvas is worked over with incredible detail? How does Malcolm do this? How can he see and paint with such attention? Is this a painting, even? It's a painting of a poster of a painting. This is getting weird. Let's break it down.
This work is called Vermeer Portrait of the Artist in His Studio. It is indeed a painting of a poster of a painting. The painting from the poster is from the 1600s by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. If you compare Malcolm's painting to Johannes' it is quite different. The colors in Malcolm's version are not the same as they were in the Golden Age of Dutch painting. Actually, Malcolm's painting looks a lot more like a cheaply made print than a famous painting.
Malcolm has gone so far as to include printed information from the reproduction at the bottom of his painting. It says "An Abrams color print." That's pretty funny because this is indeed a painting, not a color print.
Malcolm's technique for his super realistic style is helped by the use of a grid. He works on one area of the grid at a time and using a magnifying glass, he carefully reconstructs the image. Look at the off white border of the painting. It is just as rich in detail as the face of the female model, including all of the scuffs and marks of the reproduction from which he is working.