With its reference to television commercials and its minimalist theatricality, New Man continues Pearlstein's wry commentary on gender and the media. Here five shirtless men defiantly face the camera, against an austere white backdrop. A disembodied voice counts down to zero, at which point the tableaux's cool surface is broken by an eruption of digital effects. Pearlstein writes: "New Man demonstrates the speed, impact and elusiveness of change. As a dummy version of the central character drops in to replace, merge with or inhabit him, he is visibly unchanged, yet able to break from the group of men and move forward."