FJJMA-James Rosenquist Apr 4
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NEWS RELEASE March 30, 2012 FRED JONES JR. MUSEUM OF ART UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA - NORMAN CONTACT MICHAEL BENDURE, Director of Communication, 405-325-3178, [email protected] FAX: 405-325-7696 www.ou.edu/fjjma FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WITH PHOTO OU Art Museum Video Chat Series Features James Rosenquist April 4 NORMAN – University of Oklahoma students and the public are invited to interact with American artist James Rosenquist via live video chat at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. The second of its kind in the new series, 30 Minutes With, the chat begins with a 30-minute talk by OU art professor Susan Caldwell at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 4 at the museum, followed by the live chat with Rosenquist. “Through this new series, visitors are given a unique opportunity to talk directly with major current artists,” said Ghislain d’Humières, director of the art museum. “We hope visitors will take this rare opportunity and learn about James Rosenquist, both from Susan Caldwell and from the artist himself.” Rosenquist was born in North Dakota in 1933 but grew up in Minnesota. While studying at the University of Minnesota, he spent his summers painting signs and billboards. These experiences heavily influenced his pop style as an artist. In 1955, Rosenquist moved to New York, where he studied at the Art Students League and continued work as a billboard painter. Living in the fast-paced, media-filled environment of New York City, he once said he was “amazed and excited and fascinated about the way things are thrust at us.” Alongside Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Rosenquist has become a central figure of pop art in New York. “Rosenquist’s works essentially have been, and still are about, signs and sign- systems,” said Caldwell. “Their jarring juxtapositions of image fragments, along with arbitrary shifts in scale, evoke in us an awareness of our contemporary state of disequilibrium.” The new series is held in the museum’s Mary Eddy and Fred Jones Auditorium and is free and open to the public. “The museum’s live video chat series assures that artists from all over the world are more accessible to the students and faculty of the University of Oklahoma,” said Jessica Farling, coordinator of academic programs at the museum. “Studio majors and art history students will have the exciting opportunity to hear directly from distinguished artists.” The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is located in the OU Arts District on the corner of Elm Avenue and Boyd Street, at 555 Elm Ave., on the OU Norman campus. Admission to the museum is free to all OU students with a current student ID and all museum association members, $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, $3 for children 6 to 17 years of age, $2 for OU faculty/staff, and free for military veterans with proof and children 5 and under. The museum is closed on Mondays and admission is free on Tuesdays. The museum’s website is www.ou.edu/fjjma. Information and accommodations on the basis of disability are available by calling (405) 325-4938. ### IMAGE CUTLINE Contemporary artist James Rosenquist is the featured guest for the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art’s new series, 30 Minutes With, 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 4. The interactive series begins with a 30-minute lecture followed by a live chat with a major contemporary artist. Rosenquist is shown here in front of his painting, The Meteor Hits Monet’s Garden. Photo by Peter Foe. .