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“Welcome to the Water Planet was the idea of seeing the earth from another perspective, from an alien perspective perhaps. The idea was: if aliens were to visit us, they would see the earth with both its beauty and its problems. And at the same time it was about seeing the earth as a Garden of Eden that we could lose in an instant.”
—James RosenquistWith concern and empathy for all those living on the “water planet,” the name Rosenquist fondly calls Earth, Welcome to the Water Planet is one of several works in which the artist deliberates over humanity’s complicated relationship with the ecology of its home. This manifests visually within this aquatint through a dynamic presentation of the natural and unnatural. The print’s surface is animated by swirling forms, piercing streaks of image fragments, and an effusion of star particles. Galaxies materialize from cosmic dust set in motion by solar winds and each star is meticulously drawn, so that individual orbs are visible around the edges of the largest star clusters. At the center of the composition is an exquisitely depicted, monolithic water lily, overlapped by a bending, curling, plantlike form out of which a face—two eyes, part of a nose, and three fingers of the hand over the mouth area—emerges. The eyes are so delicately rendered that they appear moist.i
The waterlily as a motif evokes the work of Impressionist Claude Monet, which places Welcome to the Water Planet squarely in conversation with the tradition of how nature and the world can be represented in art. Like the Impressionists, who were concerned with capturing the ever-changing visual qualities of nature and light and how its artistic depictions can be reimagined, Rosenquist uses his work, and the “water planet” motif specifically, to explore our natural environment. Yet, he pushes the theme further by urging the viewer to question their own impact on that environment.
Claude Monet, Nymphéas, c. 1897-98, oil on canvas. Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, www.lacma.org The black and white aquatint is a deviation from Rosenquist’s typically vibrant palette. “I wanted to deal with things in a different way. First of all I used the grisaille palette, black and white. I started on black and white. What I wanted to do was to take these images, anonymous images from advertising, place them in a picture plane, in a certain size and a certain scale—really well-painted fragments—and have the largest fragment the most close-up and the most anonymous because it was magnified so much. It would be like seeing an image, but you wouldn’t quite know what it was. So, people thought they were mysterious.”ii Rosenquist uses the same technique in The Prickly Dark (lot 238).
The aquatint process holds many of the same qualities as painting, relying on swaths of tonal gradations applied like painterly brushstrokes, the medium itself playing to Rosenquist’s strengths as a painter. Welcome to the Water Planet is representative of Rosenquist’s hallmark artistry, taking on the troubles and triumphs of society while encouraging his audiences think retrospectively about their own place, purpose, and responsibility on the “water planet.”
i Ruth E. Fine and Mary L. Corlett, Graphicstudio, p. 226-227
ii Mary Anne Staniszewski and James Rosenquist, “James Rosenquist,” BOMB, no. 21 (1987), p. 27, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40422918
Exhibited
Houston, The Menil Collection and The Museum of Fine Arts, James Rosenquist: A Retrospective, May 17 – August 17, 2003 (this impression)
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, James Rosenquist: A Retrospective, October 16, 2003 – January 18, 2004 (this impression)
Cologne, Museum Ludwig, James Rosenquist: Painting as Immersion, November 18, 2017 – March 4, 2018 (this impression)
ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, James Rosenquist: Painting as Immersion, April 14 – August 19, 2018 (this impression)Literature
Constance Glenn 211 (this impression illustrated, fig. 135, p. 118)
Ruth Fine and Mary Lee Corlett, Graphicstudio: Contemporary Art from the Collaborative Workshop at the University of South Florida, 1991, cat. no. 234
Walter Hopps and Sarah Bancroft, James Rosenquist: A Retrospective, 2003, no. 268, p. 361 (this impression illustrated)
Stephan Diederich and Yilmaz Dziewior, James Rosenquist: Painting as Immersion, 2017, no. 27, p. 59 (this impression illustrated)
237
Welcome to the Water Planet (G. 211)
1987
Monumental aquatint, on T.H. Saunders paper, with full margins, folded (as issued).
I. 68 1/2 x 53 3/4 in. (174 x 136.5 cm)
S. 75 1/2 x 60 in. (191.8 x 152.4 cm)
Signed, titled, dated and numbered 'AP 5/7' in pencil (an artist's proof, the edition was 55), published by Graphicstudio, University of South Florida, Tampa (with their blindstamp), framed.
Estimate
$4,000 - 6,000
Sold for $10,160
Works from the James Rosenquist Estate
New York Auction 15 February 2024
200
James Rosenquist
Circles of Confusion, from 11 Pop Artists, Volume I (G. 10)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $2,794
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201
James Rosenquist
Whipped Butter for Eugene Ruchin, from 11 Pop Artists, Volume II (G. 11)
Estimate $400 - 600
Sold for $3,556
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202
James Rosenquist
For Love, from 11 Pop Artists, Volume III (G. 13)
Estimate $1,000 - 2,000
Sold for $2,540
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203
James Rosenquist
F-111 (Leo Castelli Gallery)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $6,350
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204
James Rosenquist
A Drawing While Waiting for an Idea (S. 6, G. 14)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $2,794
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205
James Rosenquist
Morning Mirror (G. 15)
Estimate $600 - 900
Sold for $2,286
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206
James Rosenquist
Circles of Confusion & Lite Bulb
Estimate $600 - 900
Sold for $3,556
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207
James Rosenquist
Small Doorstop
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $95,250
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208
James Rosenquist
Forehead I; and Forehead II (G. 20 & 21)
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $3,048
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209
James Rosenquist
See-Saw, Class Systems (G. 22)
Estimate $500 - 700
Sold for $2,794
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210
James Rosenquist
Night Smoke II (S. 15, G. 26)
Estimate $1,500 - 2,500
Sold for $3,302
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211
James Rosenquist
Spaghetti (G. 31)
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $10,795
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212
James Rosenquist
Tumbleweed (G. 32)
Estimate $600 - 900
Sold for $889
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213
James Rosenquist
Delivery Hat, from Cold Light Suite (G. 35)
Estimate $400 - 600
Sold for $1,651
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214
James Rosenquist
Mirrored Flag; Moon Beam Mistaken for the News; and Cold Light, from Cold Light Suite (G. 37-38 & 40)
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $7,620
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215
James Rosenquist
Earth and Moon, from Cold Light Suite (G. 43)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $5,715
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216
James Rosenquist
Pulling Out (G. 47)
Estimate $600 - 900
Sold for $3,048
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217
James Rosenquist
Hey! Let's Go for a Ride (G. 55)
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $9,525
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218
James Rosenquist
Brighter than the Sun (G. 57)
Estimate $600 - 900
Sold for $3,048
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219
James Rosenquist
Short Schedule (S. 1972.05, G. 61)
Estimate $500 - 700
Sold for $2,540
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220
James Rosenquist
Banner #1
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $3,302
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221
James Rosenquist
Banner #2
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $9,525
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222
James Rosenquist
First [When was the first time you had your eyes examined?] (G. 64)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $2,286
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223
James Rosenquist
Off the Continental Divide (S. 17, G. 69)
Estimate $7,000 - 10,000
Sold for $6,985
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224
James Rosenquist
F-111 (south) (west) (north) (east) (G. 73)
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $228,600
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225
James Rosenquist
Tampa—New York 1188 (G. 81)
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $9,525
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226
James Rosenquist
Head Stand (G. 777, G. 104)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $2,286
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227
James Rosenquist
Terrarium (G. 154)
Estimate $1,000 - 1,500
Sold for $2,286
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228
James Rosenquist
Industrial Cottage (G. 159)
Estimate $1,000 - 1,500
Sold for $2,286
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229
James Rosenquist
Sheer Line (S. 1979.41, G. 163)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $4,826
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230
James Rosenquist
Idea I; and Idea II (G. 165 & 166)
Estimate $600 - 900
Sold for $1,397
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231
James Rosenquist
Doorskin (G. 168)
Estimate $1,000 - 2,000
Sold for $1,651
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232
James Rosenquist
Chambers (S. 19, G. 173)
Estimate $800 - 1,200
Sold for $1,270
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233
James Rosenquist
Dog Descending a Staircase (S. 20, G. 174)
Estimate $6,000 - 9,000
Sold for $16,510
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234
James Rosenquist
High Technology and Mysticism: A Meeting Point (G. 180-186)
Estimate $4,000 - 6,000
Sold for $4,826
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235
James Rosenquist
The Glass Wishes: eight plates (G. 1014-1016, 1018-1019, 1021, 1023 & 1024, G. 187-189, 191-192, 194, 196 & 197)
Estimate $4,000 - 6,000
Sold for $3,810
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236
James Rosenquist
The Kabuki Blushes, from Secrets in Carnations (G. 206)
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $7,620
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237
James Rosenquist
Welcome to the Water Planet (G. 211)
Estimate $4,000 - 6,000
Sold for $10,160
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238
James Rosenquist
The Prickly Dark (G. 212)
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000
Sold for $6,096
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239
James Rosenquist
The Bird of Paradise Approaches the Hot Water Planet, from Welcome to the Water Planet (G. 214)
Estimate $8,000 - 12,000
Sold for $44,450
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240
James Rosenquist
Time Door Time D'Or, from Welcome to the Water Planet (G. 218)
Estimate $10,000 - 15,000
Sold for $30,480
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241
James Rosenquist
Space Dust, from Welcome to the Water Planet (G. 219)
Estimate $10,000 - 15,000
Sold for $21,590
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242
James Rosenquist
Caught One Lost One for the Fast Student or Star Catcher, from Welcome to the Water Planet (G. 222)
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $7,620
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243
James Rosenquist
House of Fire (G. 223)
Estimate $15,000 - 25,000
Sold for $25,400
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244
James Rosenquist
The Light Bulb Shining (G. 228)
Estimate $2,500 - 3,500
Sold for $7,620
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245
James Rosenquist
Speed of Light
Estimate $15,000 - 25,000
Sold for $39,370
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246
James Rosenquist
The Stowaway Peers Out at the Speed of Light
Estimate $15,000 - 25,000
Sold for $27,940
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247
James Rosenquist
The Xenophobic Movie Director or Our Foreign Policy
Estimate $7,000 - 9,000
Sold for $6,985
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248
James Rosenquist
The Memory Continues but the Clock Disappears
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $10,160
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249
James Rosenquist
Time Lines
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $7,938
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