Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Seoul presented the most prominent period in the career of James Rosenquist, who in the 1960s became one of the most influential American artists of his generation. Back to top.

" I painted the things that needed painting. With "Dream World: Paintings, drawings and collages, 1961-1968", the Thaddaeus Ropac gallery in Seoul plunged us into the decisive years of James Rosenquist (1933-2017), a leading figure in modern and pop art, alongside Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol. The exhibition featured the North Dakotan's seminal works, including billboard-like paintings, collage-like prints and preparatory sketches that shaped his "idiosyncratic visual vocabulary".

MONUMENTAL AND COUNTER-CULTURAL

In particular, the space showcased the work for which he won international acclaim and which has joined MoMA's permanent collection: F-111 (1964-1965). This 26-and-a-half-meter-long canvas, conceived for his first solo show at New York's Leo Castelli gallery, has 59 interlocking panels, determined by the space's four walls. It depicts an F-111 fighter-bomber, then under development by the US Army. The aircraft is enveloped in photographic and advertising imagery combining floral motifs, wallpaper, a Firestone tire, a fork stuck in spaghetti and a beach umbrella superimposed on an atomic explosion. This monumental creation, considered by many to be a pacifist work, echoed the military industrial complex on which North American consumer society was based.

The same applies to Playmate (1966), exhibited here for the first time in fifteen years. This large-format canvas also evokes the zeitgeist of the time, breaking with clichés about the representation of women in consumer culture. The man who became a father in 1964 draws his inspiration from the model of the pregnant woman, having fun inverting the dynamics of desire for the male viewer. The artist thus constructs and deconstructs the composition to tell another, far more complex story about " the various manifestations of feminine desire ".

The exhibition also highlighted the political and social commitment of James Rosenquist, who was a fervent defender of civil rights and progressive ideas in the 1960s. This important dimension permeates his work throughout his career. For example, Daley Portrait (1968), depicting Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, known for his violent handling of the 1968 Chicago riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King. Or Bedspring (1962), considered his most radical pictorial work at the time of its creation. Both works are painted on strips of Mylar, an innovative material derived from polyester.

FRAGMENT AND RECOMPOSE

During this decade, this master of pop art integrated surrealist elements, played with abstract expressionism, probed the themes of nature and technology, and manipulated a variety of techniques. He was also quick to question the very essence of the pictorial plane by incorporating real objects, as in Paramus (1966). In this collage of existing images, Rosenquist paints, superimposes and transforms his imagery into strange juxtapositions. He offers a similar view with Source for the Promenade of Merce Cunningham (1963), presenting a cut-up of images and advertisements, torn from magazines.

Source and Preparatory Sketch for The Light That Won't Fail I (1961) are preparatory sketches for his painting of the same name, now in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington. As for the four Studies for Horse Blinders (1968), these works express his sense of color and his interest in always creating his own references.

James Rosenquist, inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2001, has reinvented popular imagery in his pictorial universe, creating his own space to comment on politics, science, art and history for a wide audience. " In his multi-dimensional work, he has continually fused his personal world with global political concerns - the power of the military-industrial complex, the destruction of our environment and human rights for all races and genders," said his wife Mimi Thompson Rosenquist.

" DREAM WORLD: PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS AND COLLAGES, 1961-1968"
GALERIE THADDAEUS ROPAC / SEOUL FORT HILL
1-2F, 122-1 DOKSEODANG-RO, YONGSAN-GU, SEOUL (SOUTH KOREA)
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