Bath Time (Fredo)

This comic-strip style acrylic painting pays a vibrant tribute to the passionate melodramas and the aesthetic of American sentimental comic books from the nineteen-sixties. This sensual close-up, titled “Bath Time” and painted by a contemporary artist, explores the imagery of women and desire through a particularly refreshing setting. The work fits perfectly into the Pop Art tradition with its graphic treatment inherited from classic comic books.

The work features a very close-up back view of the bare shoulders and neck of a young woman with long golden-blonde hair cascading gracefully down her back. Long streams of transparent and stylized light blue water flow down her hair and her satiny, soft ocre skin. The composition is characterized by very thick black outlines and clean flat colors reminiscent of printed drawings of the period. In the background on the left, a bright and vibrant red area stands out, creating an especially effective warm and cool contrast with the blueish hues of the running water.

The painter demonstrates a quite remarkable mastery of acrylic painting and graphic illustration techniques. The fluid rendering of water droplets and the surgical precision of the black outlines testify to great craftsmanship in the modern reinterpretation of mechanical printing techniques of the time.