„Der blinde Passagier blickt aus der Lichtgeschwindigkeit heraus“ - James Rosenquist in Cologne
He was the triumvirate of pop art together with Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol: James Rosenquist. Now you can see the extensive artwork of the recently deceased artist in the Ludwig Museum in Cologne. He even participated in this exhibition during his lifetime.
James Rosenquist grew up in the Midwestern of the United States. His mother was an amateur painter and a pilot from Norway, his father worked as an aircraft mechanic originally coming from Sweden. Probably for this reason, Rosenquist acquired an entire aircraft hangar in his later career as a studio in Florida. Here he was able to make his opulent ideas a reality.
Rosenquist is considered as a pioneer of American post-war art. Although he refused the term pop art for himself, he was always mentioned in the same breath with Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein. His screen titles were among the strangest in the scene: “The Stowaway Passenger Peers Out at the Speed of Light”, “The Bird of Paradise Approaches the Hot Water Planet”, and “The Swimmer in the Economist”.
His artistic career started early. Already at the age of eleven, he won a prize for depicting a sunset. Therefore, he studied art and he soon earned his money with poster painting for the advertising industry.
Rosenquist´s artworks were gradually getting bigger. His vision was that the viewer dives into the picture and takes off in the paintings. He manages this in a fantastic way. Colours and shapes take one while viewing.
The newly opened exhibition "Eintauchen ins Bild" in the Cologne Ludwig Museum has now dedicated its own rooms to the artist. Some of Rosenquist's paintings are dozens of meters broad. His opulent life's work has never been exhibited to that extent. It is worth a visit. The exhibition runs until 4th March 2018. Have fun!
