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.)