Lemons, May 16, 1984 1984

Donald Sultan made ‘Lemons, May 16, 1984’ with what looks like house paint on tile. What I love about Sultan’s work is how he embraces the process of making, leaving traces of it right there on the surface. The way those bright yellow lemons sit against that almost goth black background, there’s something so raw and immediate about it. You can practically feel the texture, the push and pull of the brushstrokes, and the materiality of those tiles. It’s like he’s saying, ‘Hey, this is how it’s done, no secrets here.’ And the brown halo around the lemons, it looks like tar, making them feel sort of burnt or singed. There's something of Alex Katz in this painting, particularly the way he treats the lemons as simplified, almost cartoonish shapes. But Sultan takes it a step further, injecting this industrial toughness into the mix. It's like a conversation between pop art and something much darker and more visceral. Art is always a lemon, embrace the sourness.