New Oxy, 1964

James Rosenquist’s edition New Oxy (1964), created for the landmark print portfolio 1 Cent Life, transforms the familiar imagery of advertising into a dense, layered composition. Fragments of brightly coloured forms, handwritten notes and bold graphic shapes overlap across the double-page spread, while the large central “OXY” evokes the visual language of commercial packaging and branding. The work combines Rosenquist’s experience as a billboard painter with the spontaneous marks and textual elements associated with the emerging visual language of Pop Art. The result is a deliberately crowded image in which advertising, personal gesture and popular culture collide.