Alex Katz
Ada and Sunny, 1975
Nowadays, there is nothing casual about these cutouts, which Katz has incorporated into his work as if they were just another genre, which could be termed two-dimensional sculpture. These are carefully planned pieces, which are no longer mounted on wood, but on sheets of aluminium, cut prior to beginning the painting. They preserve a special freshness and spontaneity, and are less formal than his wall paintings.
Chance (Ann), 1990
Katz's work is difficult to classify, since we can find multiple influences in it. He was contemporary of the second generation of American abstract painters, we can see the influence in his work of the "action painting", as shown for instance in his preference for large formats. In the early sixties and in coincidence with the emergence of Pop Art, his commitment to the objective figuration prompted many critics to consider Katz as one of the most ingenious precursors of this movement.
Sunny, 1975
Without doubt he shares with Pop the clear influence of mass media: the iconic transformation of its images, repetition and fragmentation of motifs are aspects that bring him closer to artists such as Rosenquist or Warhol. But his interest in exploring how light modulates the surface of the painting, in contrast to the graphic style of Pop Art, differentiates him from this trend. Nevertheless, his oeuvre is not easy to categorize among the established movements of the second half of the twentieth century. The real common thread of his painting is simplicity and apparent naivety, which serve him to hide its great sophistication.
