Some say that to cool off in hot weather, you should drink hot tea or eat spicy food. In the same counterintuitive way, James Rosenquist’s fiery, incandescent print, “House of Fire,” refreshes the eyes while immersing the viewer in the gorgeous, searing heart of summer.
ON EXHIBIT
“James Rosenquist’s ‘House of Fire’: A Masterwork of American Pop Art,” with prints by Rosenquist, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenberg and Andy Warhol
>> Where: Honolulu Museum of Art, 900 S. Beretania St.
>> When: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sundays, closed Mondays
>> Admission: $10, free to those 17 and younger
>> Information: honolulumuseum.org, 532-8700 infox0101
In perfect sync with Hawaii’s long hot season, “James Rosenquist’s ‘House of Fire’: A Masterwork of American Pop Art,” is on view through Oct. 2 at the Honolulu Museum of Art. The show includes prints by Rosenquist contemporaries Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol.
Rosenquist’s large lithograph-collage, 54-1/2 by 119-3/4 inches, was bought by the museum in December as the first step in a master plan to enlarge and refine its collection of modern and contemporary American art.
The artist made the print, based on his large 1981 oil painting of the same name, in collaboration with a graphics company. His training as a billboard painter shows in his clear, bold colors and the smooth, posterlike textures of a gleaming phalanx of warm-colored lipsticks and a crisp, upside-down brown bag filled with groceries that don’t fall out.
At the center, in the sort of jarring contrast with which pop art wakes us up, a molten-looking red bucket comes through a window.
Looking at “House of Fire” is to taste summer on the verge of melting. It goes particularly well with one of its companion pieces, Jim Dine’s “Townsend Monotype II (Heart),” a trio of burnt-black hearts.
