Pop Art icon James Rosenquist (born 1933 in Grand Forks, North Dakota) exploded onto the scene in 1960 with his vivid, large-scale paintings. Trained as a painter of billboard signs, Rosenquist abstracted familiar imagery from advertising and pop culture through alterations in scale and unusual juxtapositions. Although fragmented and overlapped, his images of spaghetti, Marilyn Monroe, hairdryers, and detergent boxes create understandable visual narratives of American culture, often with political implications.

Rosenquist contributed to the renewal of printmaking in the United States when in 1965 he and a number of other artists explored the process of lithography at Universal Limited Art Editions. Rosenquist also experimented with screen prints and etchings, but primarily produced lithographs. Over the years, Rosenquist worked with Graphicstudio, Aeropress, Gemini G.E.L., Petersburg Press, Styria Studios, Tyler Graphics, Ltd., and Derriere L’ Etoile Studio among others.

The work of James Rosenquist is represented in major private and public collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Tate Modern in London. Aside from his many gallery and museum exhibitions, Rosenquist has had more than fifteen retrospectives, with two at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 2003, the Guggenheim Museum organized a retrospective that traveled to Houston, New York, Bilbao, and Wolfsburg. He received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement in 1988. Rosenquist has influenced an entire generation of artists and print makers.

It is with great pleasure that the SGC International Conference honors Jordan Schnitzer with the Distinguished Advocate of Printmaking Award. The 2016 SGCI Conference Steering Committee decided unanimously to give Jordan Schnitzer this award in recognition of his outstanding leadership and tireless efforts in supporting every aspect of printmaking in the Northwest region. Jordan’s vision and willingness to offer access to his collections for curators building exhibitions, for research and curricular activities within academic institutions, and for the promotion of scholarship around printmaking is transformative for the field. And Jordan’s continued support of printmaking initiatives and programs continues to have a tremendous impact on the printmaking community in the region. Printmaking could not have a more committed advocate and supporter. The field is better for it. And SGC International expresses the gratitude of printmakers, scholars, curators, and print lovers everywhere through this award. Learn more about the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation’s passion for sharing art. 

In conjunction with the award, The Center for Contemporary Art & Culture presents Lifetime Achievement Award Exhibition: James Rosenquist, which is part of the 2016 SGC International Printmaking Conference. The exhibition will feature 30 James Rosenquist prints from several collections with the majority coming from the Jordan D. Schnitzer Family Foundation Collection. Giving an overview of Rosenquist’s works in print, the prints in the exhibition are drawn from the years 1964 through 2011 and include selections from each decade. 

EVENT INFORMATION

• Lifetime Achievement Award Exhibition: James Rosenquist (PNCA)
• SGC International Exhibitions at PNCA

Wangechi Mutu is a trained sculptor and studied anthropology but first came to prominence through her collage works, which fuse a diversity of sources culled from the image gluttony of late 20th century and early 21st century life. Mutu draws from the aesthetics of traditional ritual arts, science fiction, and Afrofuturistic funkdaleia. She makes use of materials from 19th century prints, fashion magazines, scientific periodicals, pornography, and ethnographic photographs to explore the contradictions of female and cultural identity and makes reference to colonial history, contemporary African politics, and the representation of female in media. She combines her sourced materials with ink, paint, and reflective material to realize lusciously intricate full figure works and portraiture. Since the late 1990’s Mutu’s artworks have been keenly focused on the creation of surrealist characters that are hauntingly grotesque and seductive while they critique systems of power and patriarchy, both political and aesthetic.

This lecture is presented in conjunction with Wangechi Mutu: The Hybrid Human, which runs from January 19 through March 12, 2016 in PNCA’s 511 Gallery. This is the inaugural exhibition in the annual Jordan D. Schnitzer Exhibition and Visiting Artist Series.