Mouth #8 1966

Tom Wesselmann made this pop-y mouth painting, number 8 in a series, using acrylic. It's fascinating how he boils down the subject to pure shape and color, like a cartoon but with a painterly touch. Look at the red of the lips. It's so flat, almost like it’s been printed but then there’s these subtle variations, a kind of a nod to the hand. The teeth, each one carefully rendered, not quite white, but an off-white with subtle shadows. Wesselmann wasn't trying to hide his process, but instead using the paint to make this thing that hovers between real and fake. The little white spot in the lower lip makes the whole thing feel alive. There's a boldness here that reminds me of Alex Katz, but where Katz is cool, Wesselmann is all about the heat. Both artists remind us that painting can be a flat surface and a deep space all at once.