Volunteer

James RosenquistWW-1963-112368

1963·Oil on canvas·183 × 198 cm (72 × 78 in.)

<p>James Rosenquist’s paintings have a distinctive collage-like appearance and feature symbols of post-war American life drawn from mass media. In <em>Volunteer</em>, he depicted a washing machine, an ice-cream cone, and a person in a business suit, referencing technological progress, indulgence, and conformity. The large blue handprint centered in the composition—an enlargement of the artist’s own handprint—represents the uncertain role of the individual in the rapidly changing world of the 1960s. On the preparatory sketch for this work, Rosenquist wrote: “The volunteer who is puzzled doesn’t know what to do but willing.”</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1963
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 183 × 198 cm (72 × 78 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: James Rosenquist

Artist

James Rosenquist

Painting

James Albert Rosenquist was an American artist and one of the proponents of the pop art movement. Drawing from his background working in sign painting, Rosenquist's pieces often explored the role of advertising and consumer culture in art and society, utilizing techniques he learned making commercial art to depict popular cultural icons and mundane everyday objects. While his works have often been compared to those from other key figures of the pop art movement, such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Rosenquist's pieces were unique in the way that they often employed elements of surrealism using fragments of advertisements and cultural imagery to emphasize the overwhelming nature of ads. He was a 2001 inductee into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.

Grand Forks, ND, USA

Full artist profile →