Rauschenberg – Unplugged |
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 May 13, 2008 |
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My Top 3 |
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Last night, iconic 20th-century artist, Robert Rauschenberg passed away last night at the age of 82. He was survived by his son, Christopher Rauschenberg, and his companion and fellow artist Darryl Pottorf. He was born on October 22, 1925 in Port Arthur, Texas; the same town that Janis Joplin and Jay-Z’s Big Pimpin accomplice - Pimp C originated from.
In the 1950s, Rauschenberg was most famous for his Combines or works compiled of found materials and paint. As an icon of the Pop-Art scene and residing in New York for the majority of his art career, Rauschenberg had a remarkable predisposition for incorporating trash from the streets of New York City into high art. He once famously said, I think a painting is more like the real world, if it’s made out of the real world.” Collecting debris from the streets and returning to his studio was a norm for Robert. His most popular Combine Monogram (1955-1959) features a stuffed goat with an automobile tire around its neck.
By the early 60s, he started to incorporate objects like clothing, newspaper clippings, Coca-Cola bottles, and taxidermal creatures, as well as found images, including photographs. The silkscreening process enabled Rauschenberg to transfer images directly to canvas resulting in multiple reproductions. These hybrid works strongly influenced the pop art movement of the 60s and modern graphic designers like Ian Francis owed a huge debt to him.
As an important forerunner of the art movement, he moved naturally from his previous aesthetics on abstract expressionism with such works as Black Paintings and Red Paintings to his newly formed Pop-Art creations along with Andy Warhol and fellow Neo-Dada pal, Jasper Johns; Rauschenberg made the cut. His work has been exhibited worldwide from the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur to the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris and can be found in over 75 public collections throughout the United States.
In 1966, he and Billy Klüver launched E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology), a non-profit organization created to promote collaborations between artists and engineers. This further stimulated Rauschenberg’s interest into creating functioning, electronic art pieces like Rose Conodor (Scale) 1977.
In addition to E.A.T., Rauschenberg established another groundbreaking acronymed art organization in 1984. ROCI (Rauschenberg Oversees Culture Interchange) at the United Nations. This became a seven year, ten-country mission to encourage world peace and understanding through Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, Beijing, Lhasa (Tibet), Japan, Cuba, Soviet Union, Berlin, and Malaysia. Rauschenberg was greatly inspired during this transcendent period in his life, which reflected another impressive body of work that he left behind.
Rauschenberg may have just passed on from this world; however his legacy of brilliant art and tireless altruism will live on in our memory.
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