Portrait 1989

This 'Portrait' is a print by Roy Lichtenstein. Just look at that green – It’s so insistent, and there’s something so unapologetic about the way it’s been laid down. It feels less like rendering, more like an event, a thing that just happened. I find myself tracing the brushstrokes, wondering what tool he might have used, and what kind of physical action might have led to its application. There's this tension between the clean lines of the overall composition and the somewhat chaotic nature of the brushstrokes. It almost looks like two different people made this piece, with one concerned with precision and the other just trying to let loose. But maybe that was the point. It reminds me a little of Francis Picabia, though Lichtenstein keeps that pop aesthetic that makes his work so unique. Art’s just an ongoing conversation, right? And Lichtenstein had his own way of contributing to it, with a wink and a nudge. It’s definitely not about fixed meanings, but about opening up possibilities.