"It became interesting for me to see drawing separate itself from painting. The idea was to treat the line as a formal element in its own right. I had never done that before: the linear gesture continued onto the wall. I discovered that even in metal, the gesture of drawing could detach itself from painting."– Tom Wesselmann
Born in Cincinnati in 1931, Wesselmann first studied psychology before enrolling, in 1956, at Cooper Union in New York—a vibrant crossroads of cultural and artistic ferment. It was there that his vision began to take shape, with painting becoming both his field of inquiry and his passion. From the outset, he rejected the dominant codes of Abstract Expressionism, embracing instead a visual grammar inspired by advertising, the vivid colors of postwar America, and the sensuality of everyday life.