Big Blonde with Choker 1992

In Tom Wesselmann's "Big Blonde with Choker," flat planes of grey and black paint are stacked up to describe a figure. Just imagine, the artist working with the material, pushing it around with a brush, the process of painting building up the image bit by bit. I wonder if Wesselmann thought of each plane as a sculptural form, like he’s building with blocks of color. These voluptuous curves, sharp angles, and flat tones of grey and black, they all work to create a kind of cartoon pin-up. It’s like he’s in conversation with other painters, pushing abstraction and representation together, a constant back and forth. And it makes me think, what can a simple gesture communicate? The hard, defined edge, the flatness of the color – all these elements together create a very particular mood, a very particular way of seeing. Ultimately, this piece shows that painting is an ongoing exchange of ideas, a creative back-and-forth that allows for multiple interpretations.