Judy Trying on Clothes 1997

Tom Wesselmann made Judy Trying on Clothes with flat, unmodulated colours. It’s all about process, you know, the way one decision follows another. There is something so emotionally charged about the textures in this piece. The pastel skin tones against the vivid green of the clothes on the floor. It's such a striking contrast. I love the way the paint is applied so thinly, almost transparently. There's no hiding the surface. Look at those zig zag marks, like someone scribbling in a notebook! They add such a playful energy to the composition. They bring the whole piece together. Thinking about Judy, I’m put in mind of Matisse’s interiors, where figures blend into colourful backgrounds, but Wesselmann goes further, amplifying the graphic punch with a Pop Art sensibility. Ultimately, art is a dialogue across generations. There are no fixed answers, just endless possibilities.