Lucky Strike 1921

Stuart Davis made this painting, “Lucky Strike”, playing with flattened space, and using oil on canvas. It’s like he’s diving into the depths of a cigarette pack, rearranging its anatomy into something new. I love how he teases out shapes, making the familiar strange. Those bold blacks, reds, and greens really grab you, but it’s the surface that gets me. You can almost feel the drag of the brush, building up layers of meaning. Check out the text, how it’s both there and not there, readable yet abstracted. Davis is in dialogue with Cubism but does his own thing. Like Mondrian, he's interested in the grid, but he brings a more American sensibility, referencing advertising and vernacular culture. It’s not just about what you see, but how you see it, a playful riff on perception itself.