Maverick Mist

Venturi and Blue Pinion, 1983
James Rosenquist

"In Venturi and Blue Pinion, a woman is flanked by two machine parts, the venturi (left) and blue pinion (right). A fan of linoleum samples that interrupts the woman's gaze activates the composition and provides a sense of depth. By removing the objects from their original context, Rosenquist suggests that they be read in purely formal or abstract terms.

The large scale and hard-edged planes of bright colors in James Rosenquist's painting reflect his early employment as a billboard painter. In the 1960s, Rosenquist established himself as a Pop artist but, while his work displays some characteristics of Pop (industrial paints and use of popular imagery from advertising), his position is ambiguous. Unlike other Pop artists, Rosenquist's imagery has included unexpected, unsettling juxtapositions and disproportionate scale."