Dwight Garner praises the painters autobiography in the New York Times:
Mr. Rosenquist’s new memoir, […] is an unexpected treat — it’s a ruddy and humble book, lighted from within by the author’s plainspoken, blue-collar charm. […]
“Painting Below Zero” might easily have been, in other words, the kind of memoir that spills over with acid-sketched action and incident, a compendium of art-world gossip around the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. And, for sure, there’s a bit of that stuff in here.
Mr. Rosenquist describes strange nights in Hollywood accompanying the actor Dennis Hopper, who “prowled through the unlocked houses of aspiring actors and actresses.” Mr. Rosenquist gave a party for Abbie Hoffman’s future girlfriend during which people danced indoors between lighted road flares. The Warhol star Ultra Violet cavorted topless on Mr. Rosenquist’s front lawn in East Hampton one Sunday morning just as church was letting out. He was not all work and no play.
“Painting Below Zero” is hardly a tell-all, however. Instead it’s a modest but inviting coming-of-age story, a calm self-portrait by an unusual kind of Pop artist and an unusual kind of man.
Rosenquist Writ Large, By Himself (NYTimes)
