THE LIVING ROOM 1990

Roy Lichtenstein made this screenprint called 'The Living Room' with flat planes of color and machine-like Ben-Day dots. It’s kind of funny, isn’t it? Like he's building a world out of the bare minimum. I can imagine Roy carefully lining up the dots, thinking about how each one adds to the overall picture. Red for drama, blue for coolness, all those clean, graphic lines that make everything feel so crisp and controlled. It's like he's saying, "Here’s a room, but it’s a room seen through the lens of mass production.” That flat Matisse-like picture in the corner is so great! It’s like Roy is setting up a conversation with art history, while still poking fun at the whole idea of high art. It’s a very knowing kind of painting. Lichtenstein is a master of giving us something familiar but twisted, making us see the everyday in a totally new light.