Bull VI 1973

Roy Lichtenstein made this image, "Bull VI", using printmaking, though it kind of looks like a collage. He was interested in the idea of artmaking as a process, like a system you could work through to break down an image. This image uses a very specific palette: red, yellow, blue, black, and white. I really respond to the way the black lines, which are thick, define the forms of the bull. They also break up the space and make the bull almost unrecognizable; it's like it's disappearing, deconstructing itself right before your eyes. And the Ben-Day dots, which he is known for, are reduced to these simple stripes, giving the piece an almost graphic feel. Lichtenstein was a pop artist, and in a way, I see a relationship with artists like Warhol, who were also interested in the idea of seriality, the process of reproducing images, and what that means for art. For me, this bull isn’t really a bull, it’s more about how we see, and how art can be a form of visual play.