There are retrospectives and there are retrospectives. And then there are mega-retrospectives that turn heads, significantly alter perceptions of an artist and, ultimately, generate a fresh look at their place in art history. That scenario fits Florida's adopted son, James Rosenquist, inducted in 2001 into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. According to the FAHF website, he "redefined art during the second half of the twentieth century."

Rosenquist is currently enjoying a nearly five-decade career retrospective curated by the Guggenheim Museum. Despite 9-11 disruptions delaying its New York opening, the exhibition debuted triumphantly in May 2003 at Houston's Menil Collection and Museum of Fine Arts. By mid-October it opens at New York's Guggenheim, then the Portland Museum of Art and the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain.

Rosenquist, son of the Midwest, moved to New York in the 1950s, where he worked as a billboard painter until entering the fine arts arena. His early work focused on painting ordinary subject matter gleaned from magazines and everyday sensory experiences. Categorized early on as a pop artist, he was lumped together with contemporaries Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Claes Oldenburg. Over the next four decades his art making flirted with surrealist imagery as well as disparate interests in science, space travel, and social issues including AIDS and gun control.

His works — including monumental-size murals measuring 86 feet — are commissioned around the globe.

In 1971 Rosenquist began a residency at USF's three-year-old Graphicstudio. The artist lived and worked in an Ybor City Seventh Avenue studio and commuted to New York. By the mid-'70s, he discovered paradise in Aripeka, a small coastal community north of Tarpon Springs where he continues to live and work. He also maintains close personal and professional ties to Tampa, where he is well known for down-to-earth qualities and generosity. In 2002 he designed and donated "It Heals Up," a public art sculptural installation for St. Pete's All Children's Hospital.

Retrospectives honor a person but are inherently collaborative in nature. The Rosenquist Retrospective demonstrates the collaborative nature of this enormous undertaking, more than three years in the making. Graphicstudio founder Don Saff deserves credit for creating a major international printing and fabricating atelier. Salvador Dali Museum curator William Jeffett also deserves credit for curating Rosenquist's 1999 Surrealist show at the Dali and for his scholarly catalogue, quoted extensively in the nearly 2-inch-thick retrospective catalogue.

Above all, these retrospective honors derive from Rosenquist's personal contributions to the art world.

James Rosenquist Retrospective, Guggenheim Museum of Art, 1071 Fifth Ave., New York City, 212-423-3500.

This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2003.