"You take a canvas, divide it up like a checkerboard... and go from there." - Man Ray

James Rosenquist: Up Close
James Rosenquist: Up Close
About the film

James Rosenquist was one of the leading figures in the pivotal Pop Art movement. Together with such legendary artists as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Rosenquist helped explode the boundaries of viable subject matter for contemporary art.

From his formative early years as a billboard painter high above New York City, Rosenquist was one of the first people to incorporate commercial imagery into fine art, shifting the appreciation of what painting, and art, could be.

James Rosenquist: Up Close follows the trajectory of the artist’s career from his 1960’s juxtaposed images of American life, to larger concerns on politics and the environment, and finally to kaleidoscopic depictions of galaxies and universes far beyond our perception.

From billboard advertisements to the expansive and iconic “F-111”, through to his final exhibition at Acquavella Galleries in 2012, James Rosenquist’s mastery of color, scale and medium expand beyond popular conceptions of Pop Art.

Captured in one of his final interviews before his passing in 2017, Rosenquist shares intimate stories from his life in art, culminating in a walk through the Multiverse exhibition at Acquavella Galleries.

Insightful interviews with family and curators illuminate the legacy of a thoughtful and witty artist, father, and husband.

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