Brushstroke

In 1962 Roy Lichtenstein exhibited a series of works at the Castelli Gallery in New York that marked the beginning of his mature sculpture stage, in which, like his painting, he maintained his trademark comic-book colour graphics. Brushstroke is a huge sculpture whose theme is the painter’s profession, as can be seen by the title, connected to the painting that Lichtenstein did in 1965 which referenced Action Painting by “quoting” the gestural brushstroke that characterises Abstract Expressionism. From the 1980’s onwards, Lichtenstein adapted the subject of the brushstroke to three-dimensional work in the form of models, medium-sized sculptures and monumental formats. With this piece, he is putting up an enormous plastic sign which is an ironic parody of a pictorial style usually characterised by introspection, subjectivism and the painter’s personal, spontaneous gesture. In this sculptural monument, that gesture is laid bare, mechanised and reduced to its minimal expression as a sign. On the other hand, the work documents the tendency towards monochrome – as opposed to the vivid colours associated with Pop Art – of the artist’s final period of productivity. Brushstroke was installed in the plaza of the building designed by Jean Nouvel to expand the Museo Reina Sofia, as part of the Roy Lichtenstein. All About Art exhibition in 2004.

Carmen Fernández Aparicio