Details — Click to read
6 color lithograph on white Italia handmade paper. Edition 41 with 5 AP: this impression AP 1/5. Signed by the artist and dated 1967 lower right in pencil; numbered AP 1/5 lower left in pencil. In silver gilt frame.
A fireman’s pants and boots glow in hypercolor as he slides down a firepole, while deep red, neon orange and yellow fade in a gradient to white. Translucent white lines flow down the composition, and the pole features Rosenquist’s characteristic gleaming metallic chrome surface. The fireman’s graceful descent, with shiny boots held neat together, is at odds with the chaos of an emergency. In the background, the artist stylizes fire as a smooth, airbrushed sunset.
This lithograph is based on the artist’s contribution to the Expo 67. Held in Montreal, Canada in April of 1967, the 1967 International and Universal Exposition was a major World Fair bringing 62 nations together. Over half a million attended on a single day. The Expo featured art galleries, opera, ballet and theatre companies, orchestras, jazz groups, famous Canadian pop musicians and other cultural attractions.
Rosenquist was a key figure of the Pop Art movement, with other progenitors including Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. A billboard painter turned fine artist, Rosenquist is known for his smooth, graphic painting style, and his use of compositions pulled from collages of magazine cutouts, advertisements, and photographs. Firepole is a characteristic juxtaposition of bold, graphic mark-making with airbrushed pigment and a bright, neon-like palette.
Frame: H 42.5 in. x 27.5 in. x 1.25 in. / 108 cm x 70 cm x 3.2 cm
