Richard Hamilton Working 1972

Curator: Barry Flanagan's "Richard Hamilton Working" captures the Pop artist in a moment of contemplation. There is no date for this piece, which is held at the Tate Collections. Editor: The figure, rendered in sparse lines, exudes a kind of world-weary determination. The cigar seems almost like a symbolic scepter. Curator: I see it more as Flanagan’s commentary on the cultural figure. He is literally drawing out the iconic status of the artist at work. The image of a figure with a cigar is an immediate power symbol that Hamilton is exploiting. Editor: Or perhaps the cigar is just an accessory, a marker of the creative's leisure amidst toil, a symbol of status. Curator: The depiction of Hamilton, combined with the suggestive title, certainly alludes to the artist’s position within the British Pop art movement. Editor: A potent image indeed, inviting us to consider the symbols we assign to artistic labor and identity. Curator: Very much so. It leaves you pondering the role of artists and their visibility within art history.