Mistress Morphine – Adrenaline Shots 2020

Robert Sammelin made this illustration, Mistress Morphine – Adrenaline Shots, sometime in the 20th century. The colours leap out, electric blue and hot, hot pink! Look at the line that builds the image, each mark so sharp, so defined. I imagine Sammelin making this, each line precise, building up the image like a comic book illustration but with all this high voltage colour. It must have felt like walking a tightrope, knowing where to stop, what to leave out, what to suggest. The light and shadow on the model’s face, so carefully placed, suggests a sense of both danger and glamour. The texture of the fishnet stockings. Ooh la la! The artist probably looked at lots of different painters while making this picture. It’s almost like a conversation with people like Patrick Nagel and Hajime Sorayama. You can see how artists borrow from each other, remixing, and responding across generations. It shows how artists are in an ongoing conversation, inspiring one another’s creativity.