Shiny Nude from the Rubber Stamp Portfolio 1977

Tom Wesselmann made *Shiny Nude from the Rubber Stamp Portfolio* using, well, rubber stamps! Isn’t it interesting, the way the parallel lines of the stamps render the folds of the body, the shadows? You can almost feel Wesselmann pressing the stamp down, lifting it up, and then moving onto the next area. There’s an appealing mechanical quality to it, a sense of both repetition and improvisation as the image comes together. I can imagine him thinking about Matisse's nudes, or even going further back to Ingres' odalisques. It’s that same interest in reclining bodies, but with a Pop Art twist. The colors are so brash, so bold, and the shapes are reduced to these simple, graphic forms.   Wesselmann is taking what’s been done, and then turning it on its head with his own language. It reminds us that we’re all connected, that we're all in this ongoing conversation with one another, building upon and pushing against the ideas of those who came before us.