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The 40-year overnight success
By Tom Teodorczuk, Evening Standard 09.10.06
Rosenquist: pop art pioneer
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James Rosenquist is a legendary American painter who pioneered the Sixties Pop Art movement alongside Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein but is virtually unheard of over here.
That looks set to change with his new show opening this week at London gallery Haunch Of Venison.
Although Tate Modern owns work by Rosenquist, there has never before been a British exhibition devoted to him.
Taking place in three venues across London, it will be the biggest commercial art show the capital has ever seen, incorporating more than 20,000 sq ft of gallery space.
More than 50 large-scale Rosenquist paintings and collages from the Sixties to the present day will be on show.
His paintings will be exhibited at Haunch Of Venison's central London spaces in Bruton Street and Brook Street, while the Truman Brewery will showcase his biggest works, including Joystick, a 16ft by46ft abstract piece that has never been on display in Europe.
Rosenquist, 73, is in London for the first time in 30 years.
He told the Evening Standard: "The last time I was here London seemed like a small place.
"Now it seems to be a lively town for young people running around in a hurry.
"It's just by accident that I haven't had a major exhibition here. People over here probably don't know I could paint. Hopefully, they'll like it now."
Like many other American artists, Rosenquist makes no secret of his dislike for US president George Bush. One of his paintings on show, The Xenophobic Movie Director, satirises the president's foreign policy.
He said: "I don't normally criticise anyone in my own country when I go abroad but I hate George Bush. He's made millions of people angry."
Rosenquist is critical of 21st century art world practice.
He said: "Art schools teach careerism, not art. Because it's so expensive to live in New York, young artists now feel they have to show work as soon as possible.
"The critics then say it stinks so they have to work twice as hard to produce their next work. When I started, the prevailing feeling among my art group was, 'Hey man, cool baby, so what?'"
Exhibitions at all three sites run from 11 October to 18 November.
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