Still Life #5 ½ 1962

Curator: Here we have Tom Wesselmann's "Still Life #5 ½", completed in 1962 using oil paint. Editor: It’s kind of a nostalgic gut-punch, isn’t it? That ham looks like every family gathering from my childhood… but also deeply, unnervingly… fake. Curator: Wesselmann was, of course, working in the Pop Art tradition. His still lifes frequently took recognizable everyday items and placed them together in unexpected ways. Editor: Unexpected is an understatement. Whiskey, cigarettes, fruit, a can of instant coffee... and a slab of pink ham. It's like someone curated a perfect vision of a suburban daydream—with a side of impending doom. The flatness of the rendering clashes wonderfully with the very visceral nature of what's actually being depicted. It almost feels like a memory distorted. Curator: Exactly. He’s addressing postwar American consumer culture, its excesses, its allure. Notice how the bright, almost aggressively cheerful color palette works against the…let’s say questionable dietary choices being presented. Editor: The ham almost glows, doesn't it? And the ‘Old Taylor’ bottle is just… towering there, promising relief, perhaps? Everything feels slightly oversized, almost looming. Makes you wonder what Wesselmann was really thinking, beyond surface appearances. Curator: Art historians have interpreted Wesselmann's Pop Art as a critical commentary on the commodification of everyday life. He’s elevating the mundane—a can of coffee, a pack of cigarettes—to the level of fine art, forcing us to consider their role in shaping our identities and desires. Editor: And for me, that almost fluorescent ham hits hard because it touches on something primal: this desperate, slightly off-kilter optimism... It leaves me wondering if all that shines is truly gold or if there's some lurking existential threat behind the façade. Curator: Precisely. And I think Wesselmann's combination of high and low imagery invites that tension, causing us to examine both our pleasures and our anxieties. Editor: Agreed. So, a still life that leaves you not still, but rather very much in thought. Definitely makes you question what you reach for.