Mark Innerst is a contemporary realist who paints landscapes in a style that borrows from both Impressionism and abstraction. His works are as much about the setting itself as they are about the optical effect of natural light; they have been hailed for their luminosity and glossiness—qualities Innerst achieves by building up layers of transparent glazes. Innerst’s most common subjects are his immediate surroundings; during his time in New York City, he painted many series featuring the city’s buildings and the East River. Since moving to Cape May, New Jersey, Innerst has begun to paint more beaches. He explains that nostalgia is a major theme in his works: “I’m trying to capture the magic of the light coming back from a black-and-white TV set,” he once said.