32 Year Old on the Beach 1997

Tom Wesselmann made this painting titled ‘32 Year Old on the Beach’ with bright oil paints and bold outlines. There’s something so graphic and assertive about how Wesselmann applies paint. It's smooth, almost like vinyl, but the process is right there on the surface. He is painting a kind of genericized woman, but doing it in a way that feels kind of tender. I think of Lichtenstein, but this isn't just a cartoon blown up. There's something very sensual in those curves, in the way the skin tone shifts almost imperceptibly. Look at the line, like a comic outline, that defines the edge of her shoulder. It’s so clean and confident, yet it also feels playful. The way he leaves out details, like the lack of nipples or navel, almost forces you to fill in the blanks with your own imagination. It reminds me of Alex Katz, who also had this knack for capturing a certain type of American cool. Ultimately, Wesselmann reminds us that art is as much about what you leave out as what you put in.