The Maid in the Sculpture Studio (La Bonne dans l'atelier de sculpture) 1933

Picasso made this print called ‘The Maid in the Sculpture Studio’ and you can really see how he's thinking through the process of artmaking itself. The hatching marks that create the darks and lights aren't trying to trick you into seeing real space. Instead, you can enjoy the image as marks on a page, a process of artistic creation. What I love about this piece is its mash-up of different styles and subjects, all sharing the same picture plane. Look how the maid is rendered in this very tender way. Then compare this to the scribbled face, that looks like it could have been made by a different artist altogether. The maid is gazing at a classical, idealized nude in the background – a figure rendered with extremely economic lines. It reminds me of Phillip Guston’s later work, where he layers different visual languages to create a feeling of unease. Picasso isn't afraid to leave things unresolved, embracing the freedom to put disparate elements together and allow them to spark off each other.