Freud's Smoke 1997

Patrick Caulfield's 'Freud's Smoke' does something pretty cool with colour and shape, doesn't it? There's this sense of flatness, and everything's so graphic, but that doesn't mean it's not about process. It's about distilling an image down to its essence. The surface is smooth, almost like it's been printed, but there's a sense of depth to the colours that keeps it from feeling too slick. Look at the way the smoke curls up. It's so simple, just a few teardrop shapes in brown and red, but it perfectly captures the movement and fleeting nature of smoke. It's like Caulfield is saying, "I'm not going to give you all the details, just the bare minimum." You could see hints of Milton Avery in how Caulfield reduces the scene to graphic shapes. With an artist like Caulfield, it's never about showing off technique, it's about finding new ways to see.