"the" from "Technology & Mysticism"

James Rosenquist (1933-2017) New York. "the" - from the portfolio, "HIGH TECHNOLOGY & MYSTICISM: A Meeting Point (Seven Works)" 1981. Each plate was titled by hand, and comes from the poem/haiku: "Somewhere Above the Sky Silverbirds Fly Somewhere." The series was displayed at the Rosenquist Retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC, and appears in the accompanying exhibition catalog. This piece is (G.182) in the Rosenquist Print Catalog. It is a color photo-offset lithograph, signed in pencil, numbered 107/150, printed by Siena Studios, published by Rosebranches Inc. & Aripeka Ltd. Editions, image 28" x 28," sheet 34" x 33." Framed.

Rosenquist contemplated the human relationship to technology, the environment, and religion in a stunning portfolio of seven lithographs featuring imagery derived from the sciences, nature, and mass media. Rosenquist says of the series- "It was the first thing I had ever done that was solely photographic. I went to unusual lengths to take photographs. I was specifically trying to sandwich negatives together to bring about a certain look, a certain thing that I wanted through this photo process...I went to study how technology was illustrated, in libraries and other places. I went to hospitals to see how it all related to the human being. I went all over the place to see the sources of imagery from technology and find out what it had to do with so-called art. So, I came up with these strange shapes, DNA symbols, electrical circuits."

James Rosenquist was an American artist and one of the protagonists in 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.