As a student, artist James Rosenquist developed an interest in painting and took up billboard painting to make money. After moving to New York in 1955, he became involved in the art scene and began to experiment with some of the ideas and techniques he had developed while painting billboards. Rosenquist, one of the originators of Pop Art (a reaction to the Abstract Expressionist movement that dominated the 1950s), is known for his images of popular culture and fragmented spatial relations.
The composition of Evolutionary Balance is divided into three major sections. The left side depicts the stylized head of a woman placed over a bright interior. She represents the image of youth; the perfect features of a model superimposed over a sunlit interior. The center shows memory and time passing as a clipboard with birthday candles near the top and a body of water with a floating oar beneath. The right side shows the silhouette of a skull amid a tangle of colored abstract lines that depicts old age and death. A slice of uncooked bacon stretches across the composition, uniting the three sections and representing the corporeal, mortal body. Using media-generated images, Rosenquist attempts to address issues of life, death, and the passage of time. As the title suggests, an evolution is taking place from left to right, with the end result acting as a kind of memento mori, or reminder of death.
The artist’s seemingly irrational juxtapositions reference Surrealism; however, his imagery is from pop-cultural, mass-produced items and images from magazines, popular films, and other media sources. While employed as a sign painter, Rosenquist worked on enormous displays, including billboards in Times Square. This experience inspired him to draw from elements of the advertising world, such as abridged format, garish colors, and airbrush techniques. the techniques and subject matter of commercial billboard art found their way into his work in the form of intense color, monumental scale, and distinct crispness. As seen here, he lifted objects from their natural environments and juxtaposed them with others, offering the viewer a side-by-side comparison. Rosenquist once said "Painting is probably much more exciting than advertising, so why shouldn't it be done with that power and gusto, with that impact."
With the beginning of the 1960s came the end of Abstract Expressionism, and the emergence of the Pop Art movement. A growing disillusionment with the government was taking place, as well as advances in civil rights, a heightened concern for the environment, and increased exploration in space. As they became increasingly aware of the consumer culture that had been created by postwar abundance, artists began moving away from “highbrow” subjects and embracing the realities of everyday life, which included visual satisfaction from television, magazines, and comics.
