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Painting Below Zero: Notes on a Life in Art
From James Rosenquist, one of our most iconic pop artists—along with Andy Warhol, Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg, and Roy Lichtenstein—comes this candid and fascinating memoir. Unlike these artists, Rosenquist often works in three-dimensional forms, with highly dramatic shifts in scale and a far more complex palette, including grisaille and Day-Glo colors. A skilled traditional painter, he avoided the stencils and silk screens of Warhol and Lichtenstein. His vast canvases full of brilliant, surreally juxtaposed images would influence both many of his contemporaries and younger generations, as well as revolutionize twentieth-century painting.
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.
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.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 26, 2009
Bound Miami SunPost December 3, 2009
http://miamisunpost.com/themorgue/200...
Life as a Billboard
James Rosenquist Recounts the Massiveness
John Hood
Anyone who’s had the distinct pleasure of seeing James Rosenquist’s seminal “F-111” knows first-hand that scale doesn’t come any grander. Concocted with an alchemist’s sleight of hand and a ruthlessly contemporary eye, his 10’ x 86’ masterstroke is not only one of the boldest works of American art ever produced, it’s one of the most iconic. “F-111” also happens to be the kind of painting that you never ever forget.
So imagine what it would be like to have been present at the Pop Art masterpiece’s unveiling, when it took up the whole of Leo Castelli’s gallery and the world first awed at its enormity. Well, if you get with Rosenquist’s Painting Below Zero (Knopf $50), present you can be, at both “F-111”’s debut, as well as at the creation itself, when the then-fledgling artist was just coming into renown. And you can gasp right alongside such luminaries as Robert Rauschenberg, Roberto Matta, Ileana Sonnebend and Tony Curtis, all of whom joined the parade of high-minded people that trekked through Rosenquist’s Broome Street studio while he was constructing his mammoth calling card.
Better still you can get with the why Rosenquist provides for each and every one of “F-111”’s many disparate images. There’s the Spaghetti, “like a World War II plane flying through flak,” and the Underwater Swimmer, which “reminded [him:] of the big gulp of air a nuclear explosion consumes.” There’s the Atomic Bomb and the Umbrella, which harkens back to the days of mushroom-clouded resorts, and the False-Alarm Flag, whose cloth “has a military implication” and “represents a false threat.” There’s the Little Girl Under the Hair Dryer, who’s “a metaphor for the jet pilot’s helmet,” the Lightbulbs, “falling from the bomb-bay doors,” the Insignia, which “odd[ly:]” North Korea and America both share, the Big Firestone Tire, which “implied the idea of… the military-industrial complex,” as well as the Cake, the Hurdle and the Nuclear Wallpaper.
Then of course there’s the Fighter Plane itself, that mighty and murdering F-111, which Rosenquist “used to question the collusion between the Vietnam death machine, consumerism, the media, and advertising.”
And after you’ve read all about the why, you can refer to the four-page, full color fold-out and see if it aligns with your ideas of what “F-111” represents.
Of course nothing compares to seeing Rosenquist’s work up close and personal, so that you can bask in the vastness of it all; just as nothing compares to hearing his own account and his own reasoning in his very own words. And in Painting Below Zero you get just that – the work, the reasoning and the life, straight from the master’s mouth.
And you make sense of things. You see how perfectly appropriate it is that a man who grew up on the Great Plains and spent his formative years painting billboards on Times Square would go on to be famous for a sheer and utter immenseness. How his early experiments with color and distance would inform the brilliance of his pictures. And how the gargantuan yet restrictive grids he was first forced to adhere to would compel him to push his images right off the canvas.
But Painting Below Zero is not simply a compelling retelling of what goes on in the mind of an important artist at work; it’s also an insider’s look back at a New York teaming with “a brilliant and eccentric cast of characters.” There’s “the rascally Larry Poons, the incorrigible John Chamberlain, the mysterious Marisol, the bizarre Lucas Samaras, the sphinxlike John Cage, the oddball dance and dealer Alexandre Iolas, and the legend of the art world: Marcel Duchamp.”
Then there are the nights spent at the Cedar Tavern with Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and LeRoi Jones. The pilgrimages to Queens to meet Joseph Cornell. And there’s the gang Lawrence Alloway put together at the Guggenheim for his “Six Painters and an Object” retrospective – Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg, Warhol and Rosenquist himself, any one of whom could now easily fill Frank Lloyd Wright’s landmark edifice without the help of their peers. And all of whom probably have. (In fact, Rosenquist’s done it four times.)
Some may carp that Rosenquist reveals too much about the work; that meaning should remain in the eye of the beholder. And in some respects they’ve got a point; there is a lot of exposition here. But Rosenquist’s not trying to be a spoiler; that’s simply him being helpful and eager to share. Besides, you’ve undoubtedly already given some thought to most of these paintings. And if you haven’t, now is a perfect time to do so.
In sum, Painting Below Zero is breezy, keen and just the kinda chronicle the art world could use more of if it wants to become essential to anyone other than the specialists. It’s also a remarkably astute stroll down a monumental memory lane. How Rosenquist recalls all that he does is anybody’s guess, but the fact is that he does so. And for that we all should be enormously grateful.
http://miamisunpost.com/themorgue/200...
Life as a Billboard
James Rosenquist Recounts the Massiveness
John Hood
Anyone who’s had the distinct pleasure of seeing James Rosenquist’s seminal “F-111” knows first-hand that scale doesn’t come any grander. Concocted with an alchemist’s sleight of hand and a ruthlessly contemporary eye, his 10’ x 86’ masterstroke is not only one of the boldest works of American art ever produced, it’s one of the most iconic. “F-111” also happens to be the kind of painting that you never ever forget.
So imagine what it would be like to have been present at the Pop Art masterpiece’s unveiling, when it took up the whole of Leo Castelli’s gallery and the world first awed at its enormity. Well, if you get with Rosenquist’s Painting Below Zero (Knopf $50), present you can be, at both “F-111”’s debut, as well as at the creation itself, when the then-fledgling artist was just coming into renown. And you can gasp right alongside such luminaries as Robert Rauschenberg, Roberto Matta, Ileana Sonnebend and Tony Curtis, all of whom joined the parade of high-minded people that trekked through Rosenquist’s Broome Street studio while he was constructing his mammoth calling card.
Better still you can get with the why Rosenquist provides for each and every one of “F-111”’s many disparate images. There’s the Spaghetti, “like a World War II plane flying through flak,” and the Underwater Swimmer, which “reminded [him:] of the big gulp of air a nuclear explosion consumes.” There’s the Atomic Bomb and the Umbrella, which harkens back to the days of mushroom-clouded resorts, and the False-Alarm Flag, whose cloth “has a military implication” and “represents a false threat.” There’s the Little Girl Under the Hair Dryer, who’s “a metaphor for the jet pilot’s helmet,” the Lightbulbs, “falling from the bomb-bay doors,” the Insignia, which “odd[ly:]” North Korea and America both share, the Big Firestone Tire, which “implied the idea of… the military-industrial complex,” as well as the Cake, the Hurdle and the Nuclear Wallpaper.
Then of course there’s the Fighter Plane itself, that mighty and murdering F-111, which Rosenquist “used to question the collusion between the Vietnam death machine, consumerism, the media, and advertising.”
And after you’ve read all about the why, you can refer to the four-page, full color fold-out and see if it aligns with your ideas of what “F-111” represents.
Of course nothing compares to seeing Rosenquist’s work up close and personal, so that you can bask in the vastness of it all; just as nothing compares to hearing his own account and his own reasoning in his very own words. And in Painting Below Zero you get just that – the work, the reasoning and the life, straight from the master’s mouth.
And you make sense of things. You see how perfectly appropriate it is that a man who grew up on the Great Plains and spent his formative years painting billboards on Times Square would go on to be famous for a sheer and utter immenseness. How his early experiments with color and distance would inform the brilliance of his pictures. And how the gargantuan yet restrictive grids he was first forced to adhere to would compel him to push his images right off the canvas.
But Painting Below Zero is not simply a compelling retelling of what goes on in the mind of an important artist at work; it’s also an insider’s look back at a New York teaming with “a brilliant and eccentric cast of characters.” There’s “the rascally Larry Poons, the incorrigible John Chamberlain, the mysterious Marisol, the bizarre Lucas Samaras, the sphinxlike John Cage, the oddball dance and dealer Alexandre Iolas, and the legend of the art world: Marcel Duchamp.”
Then there are the nights spent at the Cedar Tavern with Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and LeRoi Jones. The pilgrimages to Queens to meet Joseph Cornell. And there’s the gang Lawrence Alloway put together at the Guggenheim for his “Six Painters and an Object” retrospective – Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg, Warhol and Rosenquist himself, any one of whom could now easily fill Frank Lloyd Wright’s landmark edifice without the help of their peers. And all of whom probably have. (In fact, Rosenquist’s done it four times.)
Some may carp that Rosenquist reveals too much about the work; that meaning should remain in the eye of the beholder. And in some respects they’ve got a point; there is a lot of exposition here. But Rosenquist’s not trying to be a spoiler; that’s simply him being helpful and eager to share. Besides, you’ve undoubtedly already given some thought to most of these paintings. And if you haven’t, now is a perfect time to do so.
In sum, Painting Below Zero is breezy, keen and just the kinda chronicle the art world could use more of if it wants to become essential to anyone other than the specialists. It’s also a remarkably astute stroll down a monumental memory lane. How Rosenquist recalls all that he does is anybody’s guess, but the fact is that he does so. And for that we all should be enormously grateful.
July 17, 2010
Straight from the brush. At this point, Rosenquist has a career as long as F-111, and in his charmingly direct voice he narrates his bilboardungsroman from Minnesota to Aripeka. I've always loved his explosive colors that so contradicted his deadpan pop imagery making it smack, crackle and pop. It's fascinating to read about his thought process as he worked on commissions such as one from French PM Mitterand in 1998, the 50th Anniversary of Eleanor Roosevelt's Universal Declaration of Human Rights for the ceiling of the Palais de Chaillot (like so many commissions bogged in bureaucracy, and ultimately ended up on floor of Guggenheim instead!). Threaded throught his artistic biography is an intruiging real estate trail: these early artists (the cru: Rauschenberg, Johns, Cage de Kooning et al.) who needed grand spaces for their super-large works hop-scotched from Coenties Slip to SoHo to the Hamptons to Tampa Bay, leaving in their wake enhanced real estate values, gentrified artsy neighborhoods, loft living and loft real estate law, and a host of other urban innovations worth noticing. Commentary on compositions such as Animal Screams ties together some of his thematic preoccupations with space, light, layered picture plane and human communication.
January 10, 2021
This is one of my favorite books by or about artists, books I’m always trying read to fill in my admittedly sketchy art education. In this book, the artist actually tells you what he was thinking when he made particular paintings! Nobody does that!
July 4, 2015
Sort of zany and discombobulated, like the author. Met him back in the late 80's in Florida and he was interesting and twitchy; nothing changes. Good background information on the Pop Art movement though seems a little "name droppy" at times (Castro, etc.; sort of like a Forrest Gump character). Still a fun read (I burned through it in a couple of days) and the color plates of his artwork are very nice.
February 20, 2010
I'm also anxious to get to this memoir by iconic pop artist, James Rosenquist. It's the story of his childhood in rural North Dakota and Minnesota and his journey to NYC where via sign painting he became an essential part of NY's art scene. I've always loved his work so this book will be fascinating, I'm sure.
September 15, 2012
One of my favorite contemporary artists. Down to earth story of his life growing up on the prairie then a brief stint at the u of mn before his billboard painting career in NYC gave him his niche. Rosenquist is a very accessible artist, but there's genius there too. A contemporary of the modern greats, he knew many of them as they rose to global fame. As he has now done himself.
April 23, 2013
Because I've known Jim my entire life, I particularly enjoyed learning more about his thoughts on different styles of art and also about his life as a child. His dad, Louis was a sweet man, and I really loved getting a sense of what he was like as a younger person and father.
April 3, 2017
This is a well-written, straightforward autobiography of painter James Rosenquist. If you ever wondered about Rosenquist's work, this is the book to read. He writes candidly about the thinking behind specific work, his political involvements and relationships, including with other artists.
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December 3, 2009What's up with quality control at Knopf? This is the second copy we've had with issues; pages weren't cut square on the first, this has sheets folded under and mis-cut.
June 17, 2010
Art books are not my forte.
June 18, 2011
Very enjoyable. I had never heard of this artist but found his life story facinating!
January 27, 2010
I loved this book!!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews