Painting the Town

By Kristine Kostuck
Staff Writer

This week the Plains Art Museum welcomed visiting artist James Rosenquist, said by Tim Murphy of New York Magazine to have, “painted the town, from Times Square billboards to the Whitney,” in reference to the place Rosenquist is currently living and spent most of his career in, Manhattan.

Rosenquist was born in Grand Forks. He moved to Minnesota and attended the U of M, where he began to paint commercial billboards. A friend of his, Cameron Booth, suggested he move to New York to further his career. At the time Rosenquist was only 20. “A lot of my relatives got married, had beautiful children and kept saying ‘I didn’t get to go to high school mine will,’ then later, ‘I didn’t get to go to college but mine will.’ It was a nice normal life that wasn’t exciting; I didn’t want to do it.”

Rosenquist received a four-day scholarship to the Art Students League in New York. Because art school was so expensive Rosenquist knew this was maybe his only opportunity to study under some of the country’s leading art professors of the 60s, like Edwin Dickinson. “I could already draw but I learned how to make a dynamic picture there. But that’s art—it can only be taught to a point and then it’s freestyle.”

While attending school he went to cocktail parties with other artists, including Andy Warhol and became hooked on advertising. Where he painted billboards for Times Square and other New York locations, Rosenquist can remember painting Elizabeth Taylor’s face. “Her eyes were this big,” he says holding his hands about two inches apart.

Rosenquist was soon labeled a pop artist after much of his work hit full scale. But knowing the other artists in this genre, he claims it is just a title given by art dealers wanting to identify them. “We were just a group of energetic people that did some commercial work.” Rosenquist continued his work as a studio painter and produced many exhibits over forty years and still maintains ties with North Dakota because of his appreciation of friendliness.

Today, as he walks the streets of Times Square it is clear art isn’t produced in the same way. Everything is digital, the streets are congested and it feels like people don’t even pay attention to billboards they pass. “When I moved to Time Square it was empty. Now, there are so many neon signs, it’s a Disney World over there,” he said.

“Times have changed,” said Rosenquist. “You could work years on a painting before the critics would see it. Now, so many young people think they have to show their fine art immediately because everything is so expensive. Half the time critics tell them they stink and a lot of people don’t recover from that.”

Seeing the art industry change over time inspired him to write a memoir of his journey from the Midwest to the big city to being associated in the Pop Art genre. “Painting Below Zero: Notes on a Life in Art” was written to help others understand the business of art. And, he said, is a way to remember his life “before I get Alzheimers.”

When Rosenquist speaks his stories stand out. Whether they are about an individual’s behavior on Time Square’s busy streets or the day he first set foot in his college art class, it’s a compelling journey that many artists travel through but never tell: insights into the thought process behind creating.

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)