E nigmatic and theatrical, blazing colours radiating from meticulously painted Ben-Day dots, Reflections: Mystical Painting (1989) is a quintessential example from Roy Lichtenstein’s important series, Reflections Paintings (1988-1993) in which the artist continues his interrogation of perception and the abstract nature of reality. Lichtenstein presents the image as if viewed through a glass frame, using diagonal strips that slice through the canvas to suggest the reflection and refraction of light, urging the viewer to make sense of its various fragments. Fastidiously executed in the comic strip aesthetic for which Lichtenstein became known, Reflections: Mystical Painting immediately engages the viewer in the narrative of the work, with the artist’s love for moments of high drama exemplified by the gaping mouth yelling into the pointillist ether. Significantly, the present work has been featured on the October 1989 cover of the high-profile international contemporary art magazine, Flash Art, which was subsequently included in Maurizio Cattelan’s sculptural work, Strategies (1990)—a house of cards composed entirely by Flash Art magazines—testament to Reflections: Mystical Painting’s powerful visual appeal and its importance in both art history and popular culture.

Lichtenstein’s Reflections Paintings exemplify the artist’s interest in the notion of perception and reproducing the ephemeral, having previously incorporated reflections in his early Pop works, Modern paintings and most markedly in his Mirror series (1969-1972). In his Mirror series, Lichtenstein employs his characteristic Ben-Day dot aesthetic—a common commercial printing technique in which small dots of colour are used to create areas of shading and varied tonal hues—to reproduce the image of mirrors as found in mirror catalogues and the media, formulating a distinct visual strategy for the imitation of reflections. Lichtenstein describes: “My first mirror paintings didn’t really look like mirrors to people. It required a little learning to make them understandable as mirrors. I think the same thing was true of the brushstroke paintings. I like to make very concrete symbols for ephemeral things. Reflections, for example” (the artist cited in “An Interview with Roy Lichtenstein”, in Roy Lichtenstein Graphic Work: 1970-1980, New York, 1981, n.p., reprinted in Diane Waldman, Roy Lichtenstein, New York, 1993, p. 183). Using diagonal stripes of gradating dots and wedges of colour, Lichtenstein successfully captures the wave-like effect of reflections and the appearance of light, establishing his own ‘concrete symbol’ that he went on to incorporate in his Reflections Paintings.

In Reflections: Mystical Painting, Lichtenstein presents a comic strip scene, obscured in part by the Mirror motif of black dots that slashes through the right-side of the composition. As such, the viewer perceives the painting as if placed under a glass frame, compelled to interact with the image to make sense of its hidden sections. Master of the melodramatic, Lichtenstein often chose to reproduce climactic moments from comic strips in his oeuvre, selecting an amalgam of suspenseful imagery, symbols and characters from popular culture that he would edit and recompose to enhance the emotional potential of the work. As compellingly argued by Graham Bader, the illusory effect of the glass barrier serves to create distance between the viewer and the work and intensify the inherent narrative and emotions: “[The paintings] foreground their beholders’ separation from the content they present. The series illustrates not the deep space of mirror illusion but impenetrable surface laid bare by reflected light. Lichtenstein accentuates the blockage by deploying his reflective streaks over particularly loaded or emotionally charged scenes” (Graham Bader, Roy Lichtenstein Reflected, Exh. Cat., Mitchell, Innes & Nash, New York, 2011, p. 49).

Here, the artist intensifies the drama of the scene by magnifying the face of a screaming superhero, focusing on his cavernous mouth, placing the portrait at a diagonal angle and cropping its edges with razor-sharp points that mimic the triangular wedges of colour, lines and dots that whizz around him. The vivid hues of tangy yellow, ultramarine blue, pine green and crimson red complement and contrast, adding to the heightened dynamism and vitality of the scene. In the upper-left quadrant on the painting, Lichtenstein’s superhero yells out in distress, the force of which almost quivers from the surface. Perhaps the image of X-Men’s Cyclops character who is depicted wearing similar yellow goggles and a royal blue suit in early Marvel comic books, the direction of the protagonist’s head guides the viewer’s gaze to the pyramid on the right, highly ambiguous in its depiction as either falling to the ground or soaring up into the air. The puzzling imagery and snippet of text both intrigue the viewer, teasing understanding from prolonged contemplation of the work, and reinforce the painting’s nature as ‘mystical’, presenting an exciting spectacle of the supernatural.

Roy Lichtenstein is a pioneering figure in Pop art, using images from comic books, advertising and popular culture to push the boundaries of what was considered fine art. Adopting the dot pattern found in comic illustrations and printed media, Lichtenstein replicates the mechanical process of printing by hand, achieving highly-finished, wondrous visions that startle and beguile the viewer. Liechtenstein’s Reflections series significantly draws on elements and techniques from his earlier paintings and his understanding of art history to create a mature, self-reflexive body of work, examples of which can be found in The Broad Museum, Los Angeles; Tate Modern, London; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; National Gallery, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; and Israel Museum, Jerusalem. A preeminent example from the series, Reflections: Mystical Painting transcends traditional distinction between high art and mass culture, establishing Lichtenstein’s status as an influential, iconic figure in the canon of art history.

《反射系列：神秘的繪畫》作於1989年，充滿光怪陸離的神秘元素和戲劇張力，密密麻麻的班戴圓點（Ben-Day dots）工整地排列出鮮豔奪目的圖案，無疑是羅伊・李奇登斯坦「反射」系列的精彩範例。此系列橫跨1988至93年，當中包含了藝術家對現實感知及其抽象本質的探討。他的作品模仿玻璃倒影的視覺效果，以貫穿畫面的斜線代表光線反射與折射，幫助觀眾從眾多碎片中理出頭緒。他擅長連環漫畫風格，本作沿襲了這種美學特質，讓觀眾迅速投入作品所描繪的世界。畫中人張開嘴巴，對著佈滿圓點的虛空嘶吼，可見藝術家非常喜歡這類扣人心弦的緊張戲碼。李奇登斯坦是二十世紀其中一位最有創意的藝術家，他的作品辨識度極高，幾乎是普普藝術的標誌。他在「反射」系列中加入部分早期作品的元素和技巧，例如1969至72年的「鏡子」繪畫。他在藝術史方面的知識，助他塑造出許多帶內省意味的成熟作品，當中不少成為世界各地美術館典藏，包括洛杉磯布洛德博物館、倫敦泰特現代藝術館、三藩市現代藝術博物館、柏林漢堡車站美術館、紐黑文耶魯大學美術館及耶路撒冷以色列博物館。

李奇登斯坦曾在早期的普普作品、「現代」和「鏡子」系列中加入反光效果，並於後來的「反射」系列中，延續對視覺感知、以及對捕捉瞬逝光陰的執著。他在「鏡子」系列裡使用標誌性的班戴圓點，重構商品目錄或大眾傳媒裡的鏡子意象。班戴圓點本來是一種常見的商業印刷技巧，以細小的色點組成深淺不一的陰影和色調。李奇登斯坦形容道：「我最初畫的『鏡子』看起來並不像鏡子。為了讓觀眾知道它們是鏡子，我確實下了一番功夫。我認為這種努力同樣適用於強調筆觸的畫作。我想以實在的符號，詮釋鏡花水月般的事物，例如反射」（引述自藝術家，〈羅伊・李奇登斯坦訪談〉，《羅伊・李奇登斯坦：平面作品 1970-1980年》，紐約，1981年，無頁數；重印於黛安・瓦爾德曼，《羅伊・李奇登斯坦》，紐約，1993年，頁183）。大小、深淺緩變的圓點和楔形色塊呈斜線狀排列，營造出波浪般層疊湧現的反光和光線，「實在的符號」由此成形，並應用在幾年後的「反射」系列中。

在《反射系列：神秘的繪畫》中，李奇登斯坦刻畫了一格漫畫場景，畫面右方有部分區域被黑色圓點組成的鏡子覆蓋。如此一來，觀眾彷彿看到一幅裱在鏡框裡的畫，從而迫使自己認真思考隱藏的部分。李奇登斯坦是營造戲劇氣氛的高手，經常在作品中重現連環漫畫的緊張時刻。他從流行文化裡擷取劇力萬鈞的圖像、符號和角色，重新編排，以累積作品的情感深度。正如藝術史學家格雷厄姆・巴德所言，鏡面反射帶來的阻隔在觀眾與作品之間拉開距離，令固有的敘事和內在情感更加強烈：「（這些畫作）強調了觀者與它們所呈現內容之間的分隔。該系列闡明的並非鏡子錯覺造成的深層空間，而是被反射光覆蓋而無法穿透的表面。李奇登斯坦通過將反射條紋部署在充滿情緒張力的場景上，凸顯當中的阻隔」（格雷厄姆・巴德，《羅伊・李奇登斯坦：Reflected》展覽圖錄，米切爾-英尼斯及納什畫廊，紐約，2011年，頁49）。

李奇登斯坦把本作中放聲大叫的超級英雄的五官放大，黑洞洞的嘴巴成為臉龐焦點，他的面部角度傾斜，邊緣修飾得如剃刀般稜角鋒利，筆直的斜線與周圍的三角形色塊、點線互相呼應，作品的戲劇力量因而呼之欲出。鮮黃、艷藍、松綠、赤紅彼此交織碰撞，令畫面迸發活力。左上角的超級英雄大聲悲呼，幾乎引起畫面震盪迴響。這個超級英雄也許是《X-Men》的獨眼龍，他戴著黃色框的眼罩，身穿寶藍色戰鬥服，與早期漫威漫畫中的形象相似。他的頭傾向一邊，將觀眾的目光引向右方的金字塔，然而，金字塔究竟是墜落地面，還是衝上半空，仍然沒有定論。充滿謎團的圖像和一串意味不明的字母必定勾起觀眾的好奇心，彷彿在調侃拼命解讀作品的觀眾，在鞏固「神秘」內涵之餘，還上演了一齣壯觀的超自然短劇。

李奇登斯坦被譽為普普藝術先驅，他透過漫畫、廣告和流行文化圖像，大膽試探藝術的傳統界限。他還借用漫畫和印刷品中出現的彩色點陣，以手繪的方式重複機械印刷的工序，創造出精美細緻的作品，令觀眾嘆為觀止。一如本作，李奇登斯坦的作品超越了高雅藝術與大眾文化的既有分野，奠定他在主流藝術史上的堅實地位。