Marilyn 1974

Curator: This work, titled *Marilyn*, was created by James Rosenquist in 1974. It is a mixed-media print and collage, incorporating acrylic paint and photography. Editor: It’s such a disorienting image, even before you realize who it depicts. All these fragments and conflicting colours—it really pulls you in, then pushes you away. Curator: Fragmentation is key here, don’t you think? Marilyn Monroe was a fragmented persona in so many ways: the public figure versus the private individual, the various roles she played, and even how the media portrayed her – lots of distorted representations, feeding into archetypes. Editor: Right. The materiality speaks to this. It's not just paint on canvas, but this jumble of photo fragments, collage elements, spray paint. This suggests a layering of imagery, of mediated versions of “Marilyn” being built up. Almost as if she’s mass-produced in print culture but simultaneously falling apart. Curator: And those letters! "Marilyn" is fractured just like her image, but they evoke iconic advertising and Hollywood signage. We instantly grasp the reference, a visual shortcut to her fame and then the idea of a star being manufactured through visual imagery. What a dark side of celebrity to signify through these symbols. Editor: What also strikes me is the deliberate contrast between the hard, geometric shapes of the letters and the more organic curves of her face and body. Highlighting the artificiality of this "Marilyn" product against, presumably, some lost natural essence. And given how photography often played on her skin… you know. The textures of image and print. It's clever. Curator: There is also a striking interplay of light and shadow in this image that adds to its fragmented nature. Some shapes look photographic and other parts feel very much manipulated by an expressive acrylic hand. So where exactly are we seeing the real Marilyn? This is a pop artwork commenting about pop’s commodity as something that remains elusive. Editor: It does speak volumes about image construction. All the means involved in crafting that famous persona: the photographs, the styling, the graphic design… and that uneasy tension between commerce and art. It's more than just a portrait of a woman; it's a portrait of an era. Curator: Indeed. A potent meditation on identity, media, and the cost of fame through its disruptive iconic symbols. Editor: And the constant work of mass reproduction, ultimately cheapening her while attempting to monumentalize her image for generations.