James Rosenquist

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About James Rosenquist

James Rosenquist studied at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and at the University of Minnesota before moving to New York in 1955 and enrolling at the Art Students League. His artistic education led to a brief, but significant, career as a billboard painter.

James Rosenquist studied at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and at the University of Minnesota before moving to New York in 1955 and enrolling at the Art Students League. His artistic education led to a brief, but significant, career as a billboard painter. In 1960, he began painting works influenced by the scale and glossy advertising language of the billboards he had painted. Working with bright Day-Glo colors and a sleek, clean aesthetic, Rosenquist juxtaposed fragmented images derived from advertising to create enigmatic, thought-provoking narratives that raise questions about advertising and consumer culture. In the fall of 1963, Rosenquist moved to a larger studio and began expanding the size of his paintings. He created a large mural for the 1964 World’s Fair and began work on his iconic painting, F-111. In a pictorial critique of American militarism and consumerism, the painting depicts the controversial new fighter plane, the F-111 jet, amidst disturbing images of consumer products. Throughout the 1970s, Rosenquist continued to paint in his trademark Pop aesthetic, painting works that directly allude to cultural and political themes. He also frequently experimented with unconventional materials and site-specific installations. In the late 1990s, Rosenquist began a new series, The Speed of Light, in which he explored the themes of space, light and relativity in brilliantly colored, abstract paintings. He has continued to explore the perception of time and space in his most recent work.

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