Indian with Pony 1953

Roy Lichtenstein made this woodcut, Indian with Pony, in 1953. He used black ink on paper, and what jumps out at me is the texture – it's not trying to be smooth or perfect. You can almost feel the grain of the wood. The whole image is built from bold, graphic shapes. Look at the way he carves out the negative space around the figure, and how he uses patterns to suggest form and shadow. It’s like a puzzle, where each piece locks together to create something that’s both simple and complex. I’m thinking about artists like Picasso, who also played with flattening space and breaking down forms. This piece isn't trying to be realistic. It’s an exploration of how we see, how we interpret, and how we can find new ways of representing the world around us. For Lichtenstein, it's all about experimenting and pushing the boundaries of what art can be.