The Prickly Dark

James Rosenquist (1933-2017) was an American Pop artist known for his monumental paintings and prints that combined popular culture, Surrealism, and historical painting techniques into montage-like works. The artist was greatly influenced by his early career as a commercial billboard painter, his studies at the Art Students League, and his interactions with other prominent artists including Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg. His works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art, and the National Gallery of Art, among others.
Over his long career, Rosenquist created an important body of works that explored new boundaries in printmaking. The artist’s first residency at Graphicstudio was in 1971, and he created thirty-seven works in collaboration with the atelier in his lifetime.