Brushstroke Group 1987

Roy Lichtenstein made this sculpture as an ironic celebration of Abstract Expressionism. Imagine him, in his studio, figuring out how to take the most gestural and free-form aspect of painting - the brushstroke - and turn it into something hard-edged and Pop. It's kind of brilliant, right? He's taken a symbol of spontaneity and rendered it in a style that's all about mechanical reproduction. I can almost see him wrestling with the idea, trying to figure out how to make a brushstroke that looks both fluid and frozen in time. And in a funny way, it speaks to something real about painting. We're always trying to capture a moment, to make something that feels alive and in motion, even though it's just paint on a surface. Lichtenstein's sculpture is like a giant, playful reminder of that struggle. It makes you think about all the different ways artists have tried to capture the energy of a brushstroke, from the wild gestures of Abstract Expressionism to the cool precision of Pop Art.