Cream Glazed Pot 1979

Patrick Caulfield made this "Cream Glazed Pot" with screen printing in 1984, and I just love how he reduces everything to the barest essentials. There’s something so matter-of-fact about Caulfield's approach. He just lays down these flat, graphic shapes, kind of like how you'd cut out paper for a collage. Check out how that cream-colored pot pops right out, all smooth and even, surrounded by those bold, black outlines. And then, those plant silhouettes, so dense and solid, almost like cutouts pasted on. It’s funny how he uses color; the pot is almost glowing, but the rest is so muted, like a faded memory. The texture in the background almost feels like he stippled it on, a tiny detail in an otherwise very bold image. There’s a kinship here with someone like Ellsworth Kelly, in that interest in flat shapes, but Caulfield brings in a bit of Pop Art coolness. It’s like he's saying, “Yeah, it's just a pot, but look how much you can do with it.”