Indian with Pony 1953

Roy Lichtenstein made this woodcut, Indian with Pony, in 1953, and it's one of an edition of 25. Look closely, and you can see how the black ink sits on the paper, a testament to the artist's labor of carving the image from a block of wood. It feels like he’s using a visual language here, borrowing, and re-mixing—like a DJ! How did Lichtenstein decide where to leave the wood, and where to carve it away? What was he thinking as he rocked back and forth, pressing the paper to the block? I love how the flat shapes lock together, creating an image that feels both ancient and modern. The heavy black areas balance against the negative space, pushing and pulling against each other. It reminds me of other artists who were mining similar territory, like Picasso or Stuart Davis, each with their unique take on modernism. Ultimately, what's so great about painting—or any art form really—is how artists build on what came before, transforming it through their own vision and experience.