In 1983, an idea came to Tom Wesselmann: to capture the messy, unconstrained process of sketching in the unforgiving permanence of steel, a contradiction that seemed to intrigue the artist....
In 1983, an idea came to Tom Wesselmann: to capture
the messy, unconstrained process of sketching in the unforgiving permanence of
steel, a contradiction that seemed to intrigue the artist. His first steel
works were hand-cut aluminum painted in colors, creating a flattened effect as
if Wesselmann had drawn on a wall.
The following year, Wesselmann partnered with Donald
and Alfred Lippincott in Connecticut to further develop his technique and gain
more precision and specificity to cut the steel exactly as he wanted.
Wesselmann had always been interested in technology, incorporating live
televisions or radios into his assemblage works, and now he incorporated laser
cutting into his steelworks. He was delighted, remarking: "I anticipated
how exciting it would be for me to get a drawing back in steel. I could hold it
in my hands. I could pick it up by the lines, off the paper. It was so
exciting. It was like suddenly I was a whole new artist.”
By 1985, Wesselmann told the New York Times
that he'd just had the best year of his life, energized by the new processes he
had developed with the Lippincotts. The laser cutting specifically allowed him
to magnify his drawings to a monumental scale while retaining their unstudied
feel - the present work feels as light as air.
The excitement over the sculptures caused Wesselmann
to focus more on drawing: they were now the final product instead of
preparations for a painting or other work. He chose his drawings to transform
into steel carefully, selecting options that had "the right look and
feel…they can’t be tampered with…they have to be drawn in one dash.”
The Whitney acquired a steel-cut enamel the same year,
but the hybridity of this new technique led to some confusion. Wesselmann
considered his steel cuts pure drawings and labelled them as such (the Whitney
now classifies it as sculpture, but it is referred to as a 'steel drawing'.)
Wesselmann's response?
He explained that it was “an example of life not necessarily being as
simple as one might wish." He added: “I trust that in the long run wisdom
will prevail and what it is will not matter. What matters, of course, is it is
beautiful, a vivid expression of a valid idea, presented in a specific form that
really has never been seen before.”