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Ronsequist writes about growing up in a tight-knit community of Scandinavian farmers in North Dakota and Minnesota in the late 1930s and early 1940s; about his mother, who was not only an amateur painter but, along with his father, a passionate aviator; and about leaving that flat midwestern landscape in 1955 for New York, where he had won a scholarship to the Art Students League. George Grosz, Edwin Dickinson, and Robert Beverly Hale were among his teachers, but his early life was a struggle until he discovered sign painting. He describes days suspended on scaffolding high over Broadway, painting movie or theater billboards, and nights at the Cedar Tavern with Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and the poet LeRoi Jones. His first major studio, on Coenties Slip, was in the thick of the new art world. Among his neighbors were Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Indiana, Agnes Martin, and Jack Youngerman, and his mentors Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.
Rosenquist writes about his shows with the dealers Richard Bellamy, Ileana Sonnabend, and Leo Castelli, and about colorful collectors like Robert and Ethel Scull. We learn about the 1971 car crash that left his wife and son in a coma and his own life and work in shambles, his lobbying—along with Rauschenberg—for artists’ rights in Washington D.C., and how he got his work back on track.
With his distinct voice, Roseqnuist writes about the ideas behind some of his major paintings, from the startling revelation that led to his first pop painting, Zone, to his masterpiece, F-III, a stunning critique of war and consumerism, to the cosmic reverie of Star Thief.
This is James Rosenquist’s story in his own words—captivating and unexpected, a unique look inside the contemporary art world in the company of one of its most important painters.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
October 27, 2009 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780307273291
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780307273291
- File size: 18919 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from October 1, 2009
Master painter Rosenquist is tagged as a progenitor of the pop art movement, but as he states in his frank, energetic memoir, Ive never cared for the term, but after half a century of being described as a pop artist, Im resigned to it. Assisted by veteran art writer Dalton, Rosenquist is as arresting in print as he is on canvas, clearly relishing the opportunity to reveal the sources of his potent imagery and provocative juxtapositions. Social critiques are intrinsic to his large-scale, poetically realistic paintings, yet his intention has been to make mysterious pictures. Born in 1933, Rosenquist grew up in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Ohio and became an expert sign painter, the impetus for hair-raising adventures, including a stint painting gargantuan billboards in Times Square. Creating 40-foot-high images while suspended far above the ground shaped Rosenquists aesthetic in ways both obvious and subtle, as evident in his riffs on absurd monumentality and the ironies of advertising. As he chronicles his own artistic discoveries and shares his humanist and ecological vision, he also profiles his fellow artists, illuminates New Yorks spiky art world, and reflects on staggering personal traumas. By sharing the extraordinary story of his life in this involving, richly illustrated autobiography, Rosenquist deepens our appreciation for his work and for creativity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)
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