Study Hand and Mouth 1973

Tom Wesselmann made this painting, *Study Hand and Mouth,* using oil on canvas. The colors are flat and vibrant, like in an advertisement. The mouth is wide open, and the hand with its cigarette seems to be pushing it open even more. What was he thinking? Maybe he wanted to show us something about desire, about wanting to speak, or wanting to consume. Wesselmann did a lot of paintings of mouths and body parts. I wonder if he was trying to isolate things we usually see as a whole. Like, what happens if you just focus on one part? Does it become strange or more intense? I always think about how artists build on each other's work. Wesselmann's paintings remind me of Alex Katz, but they're also totally his own. It’s like they’re all having a conversation about how to see and show the world. Ultimately, for Wesselmann, painting wasn’t just about showing what things look like, but also about how they feel.