Andrew Raftery

As light streams into a well-appointed interior, a realtor kneels to hand information sheets to two prospective buyers. Behind him, another couple walks in the front door for the openhouse viewing.

To depict this contemporary American middle-class ritual, Raftery looked to engravings from the 1600s, and in particular to the rigorous technique of Claude Mellan. Raftery creates a convincing illusion of space, light, and surface texture through the use of parallel lines of different length, width, direction, and spacing. At once realistically detailed and artfully constructed, the image takes on an uncanny quality, reinforced by the combination of old technique and contemporary subject matter.