Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an ink print by James Rosenquist. It dates from 2011 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 2011, this lithograph by James Rosenquist incorporates a rotating mirror set within the artist’s own frame, producing a kinetic visual effect. The work is part of the Museum of Modern Art’s collection and exemplifies Rosenquist’s ongoing interest in the intersection of commercial imagery and fine art.
Subject & Meaning
The image presents three clocks suspended against a pale blue sky. One clock retains a conventional form, while the other two appear to melt or fragment, their numerals jumbled and out of sequence. The juxtaposition of orderly timekeeping with distorted, chaotic forms suggests a commentary on the fluidity of perception in a media‑saturated culture.
Technique & Style
Executed as a lithograph, the piece employs the traditional stone‑or‑metal printing process, but Rosenquist adds a rotating mirrored surface that alters the viewer’s perspective as the frame is tilted. Bright, saturated hues of pink, yellow, and red intersect the clock motifs, reinforcing the work’s pop‑art lineage while introducing a tactile, almost three‑dimensional quality.
History & Provenance
Rosenquist, a former sign painter who rose to prominence within the pop art movement, produced this work late in his career. After its completion, the lithograph entered the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, where it remains on view as part of the institution’s holdings of post‑war American art.
Context
The piece follows Rosenquist’s long‑standing practice of appropriating everyday commercial symbols—here, the ubiquitous clock—to explore themes of consumerism and visual overload. The inclusion of a moving mirror aligns with his experimental use of technology to disrupt static viewing experiences, echoing similar innovations by contemporaries in the late twentieth and early twenty‑first centuries.
Artist & collection
Artist
James Albert Rosenquist (November 29, 1933 – March 31, 2017) was an American artist and one of the proponents of the pop art movement.
