James Rizzi American (1950-2011) Which Way Is Up, 1989 3D lithograph Signed lower left, titled lower center, numbered 257/350 and dated lower right. Biography from the archives of askART: Biography from RoGallery At first glance, James Rizzi's art may easily be mistaken for the early artistic efforts of a young child. This is not an entirely erroneous judgment, for it is certain that Rizzi wants to incorporate the freshness and vitality of children's art in his work. In this regard he is not alone. Some of the great artists of the twentieth century, including Klee, Dubuffet and Miro, deliberately used a primitive, childlike style in their mature work. Rizzi, born and raised in New York, has turned his childlike imagination into artistic powers to transforming the city itself into something wonderfully original. His large panorama of urban life are teeming with energy and life, reflecting all the diversity and human variety that is at the core on New York. These are not "mean" streets but uproariously happy ones, where children jump rope, shoot baskets, and walk their dogs. If the sidewalks belong to the young people, grown ups, especially men, are imprisoned inside an army of automobiles. The vehicles are as diverse as and crazily idiosyncratic as the people who drive them. 12" x 8" (sight), 23 1/2" x 18 1/2" (frame),