It is a 13-ft long oil painting rich in colour and texture that sits beside a section of a motorised conveyor belt. In 2006, Christie’s valued it as being worth almost US$1 million (Dh3.67m) and although it is not in town yet, Conveyor Belt will join the permanent collection of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi when it opens in 2017.
To mark the news of its acquisition, the American artist James Rosenquist and other seminal contemporary artists gathered in the capital for a series of talks to discuss the museum’s evolution.
Although Conveyor Belt, painted in 1964, has gained much international acclaim and been labelled a metaphor for the saturation of stimuli that pass by as if propelled on a conveyor belt, Rosenquist will not be drawn on the meaning he himself intended.
“What this painting is about is nothing; a bag full of nothing,” an animated Rosenquist said
Article source: http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/art/five-artists-and-new-acquisitions-for-the-guggenheim-abu-dhabi