In the early 1980s, the American Pop artist Tom Wesselmann began working with metal and developed a completely new artistic technique, the so-called "steel drawings". In these filigree, silhouette-like creations, Wesselmann succeeded in transferring the spontaneity, the clear, sketchy lines of his graphic style into the durable material metal in unprecedented manner. Thus creating a fascinating combination of drawing and sculpture. Strictly speaking, they are colored reliefs of a drawing that Wesselmann spread out in front of the white wall in a fine steel cut and that, at first glance, give the appearance of a wall painting.

The motifs of the "steel drawings" are based on the classic Wesselmann themes: Nudes, still life and landscapes, whereas his famous "Nudes" also make for Wesselmann's central complex in this technique. Wesselmann decided to solely make representational art, contrary to the prevailing abstract painting of the time, as early as in the late 1950s. However, in this context it was crucial to find a completely new approach, that he had to pursue completely new artistic paths. Wesselmann's legendary "steel drawings" are documents of this approach and provide impressive proof that, contrary to popular belief at the time, the story of representational painting was far from over. The first works were made of hand-cut aluminum, which was lacquered in various colors. Wesselmann explains, "With the aluminum doodles, the idea was to take a small doodle and blow it up large, as if it had just been made on the wall." (quoted from: https://denverartmuseum.org/article/staff-blogs/tom-wesselmann-finds-new-medium).

After months of intensive work with the precision mechanic Alfred Lippincott, Wesselmann succeeded in developing a technique that cuts steel with the very degree of precision fundamental to the realization of his artistic visions. The underlying sketches are electronically or manually transferred to the metal plate and cut out with millimeter precision by a laser beam. Wesselmann plays with the double alienation and in doing so restages his Pop Art drawings in a revolutionary new manner. On the one hand. it is the execution in steel cut, and on the other hand, it is the monumental enlargement of the drawing that is fascinating and vexing in equal measure. Wesselmann's "steel drawings" are like monumental, highly precise silhouettes and play with the confusing illusion as if the fine line was lifetd out of the drawing, out of the paper, and mounted on the wall. This way they transfer the principle of the "shaped canvas", which seeks to emancipate form from the rectangular image carrier, into representational, line-based painting. Their unique effect always incorporates the surrounding space and the respective lighting, as the fine line structure casts a different shadow on the wall depending on the light incidence. [JS]