Mixed Bouquet with Leger, from Portfolio 90 1993

Tom Wesselmann made this screenprint called *Mixed Bouquet with Leger, from Portfolio 90*, and it's a wild ride of color and shape. The flat areas of color are so bold, it’s like he's daring you to feel something, anything. The way he lays down those colors, solid and unapologetic, tells you he's not messing around. It’s interesting how Wesselmann uses texture—or rather, the lack of it—to create this super-smooth surface that feels almost unreal. The colors are vibrant, the lines are sharp, but it’s all so flat. The orange squiggles behind the vase, they’re like a little dance, a playful moment in an otherwise very controlled space. That flat orange reminds me of Matisse, and how he also found a way to make simple forms and colours sing. It's a conversation across time and mediums. It’s like they're saying, "Hey, let's not take this too seriously, but let's also make it unforgettable."