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Pop artist James Rosenquist was strongly influenced by the large scale, bright colors, and simple forms of outdoor billboard advertising, an industry he once worked as an installer. In this early editioned lithograph, Rosenquist depicts a severed telephone cable, a subject that apparently fascinated him and may have served as a metaphor for the breakdown of communication. When he was asked about his billboard-inspired work, Rosenquist replied that his intention is "…to get as far away from nature as possible."