Red and White Brushstrokes 1965

Roy Lichtenstein made this print using serigraphy, an ink-based stencil technique. Lichtenstein emerged during the Pop Art movement, a period of intense consumerism and social change in the United States. Here, he presents us with an image that simultaneously celebrates and critiques the machismo associated with Abstract Expressionism. The brushstroke, often seen as a spontaneous gesture of artistic genius, is here re-presented with the mechanical precision of commercial printing. The benday dots and bold outlines, techniques borrowed from comic books, flatten the image and remove any trace of the artist's hand. In an interview, Lichtenstein said, "It was hard to get a dripping effect in cartoon form". Through this work, Lichtenstein challenges our assumptions about originality, authorship, and the very nature of art. He asks us to consider how images circulate and accrue meaning in a culture saturated with media. What does it mean to represent emotion, energy, and authenticity through mechanical reproduction?