Mitchell-Innes & Nash opened the first major retrospective of paintings by American Pop-Artist Tom Wesselmann on Thursday, April 21, in partnership with the Tom Wesselmann Estate. The exhibition features twelve of the artist’s works and examines the impact of his contributions to the Pop-Art movement.
Wesselmann is best known for his “Great American Nude” series, a career-spanning body of work that places seductively-posed faceless nudes in highly saturated interiors. The exhibition at Mitchell-Innes & Nash features paintings that span the breadth of this series, from Great American Nude of 1961 to the Sunset Nudes completed in 2004, the year of the artist’s death. The exhibition also features other techniques Wesselmann utilized, including assemblage, collage, molded plastic paintings, and shaped canvases, along with his innovative steel-cut works. An exemplary work from Wesselmann’s “Smoker” series ensnares viewers in sultry smoke billowing forth from a disembodied pair of blood-red lips.
Wesselmann’s oeuvre is filled with rich landscapes, still lifes, and bold nudes. His paintings are sexy, and it’s only fitting that this retrospective opens in tandem with the arrival of shoulder-baring weather. Looking for something fun, cultured, and sexy to do? Take your date to this Tom Wesselmann retrospective. Or go solo (like me) and bask in the artist’s sage interpretation of American ideology.
Tom Wesselmann at Mitchell-Innes & Nash is on view from April 21 – May 28, 2016.
