Beauty is now underfoot wherever we take the trouble to look. – John Cage, 1961
When the news came across the internet of RR’s death on Monday, I felt like a someone hit me with one of those punches you read about in old timey boxing stories. Robert Rauschenberg is one of those artists that has always been in my personal “cannon” as it were, if not for the enormous body of impressive work, but for his bravery in the materials the he used to produce it.
I remember in my first year at VCU when Jim Baumgartner taught us the technique that RR used the make image transfers from newspapers and magazines. That same week, Richard Carlyne ran a movie for a class where we watch RR get shitfaced and show his latest work – the cardboard series, told the story about asking Willem deKooning to have a drawing that he could erase, and finally a Merce Cunningham ballet that he would design a set for. I guess you could say that unlike many other artists, I was aware of the value of his thinking about his work, no matter how impulsive it might have seemed. Recently most of the artworld traveled to the met to see his combines and literally saw how powerful and interestingly enough, how fresh they seemed when compared to what we see in galleries today. That surprised me. Because, truth be told, I had been taking him for granted for too long and had forgotten just how great that work is.
Robert Rauschenberg Pilgrim, 1950, mixed mediums with wooden chair, ca. 79 x 54 x 19 in.Hamburger Kunsthalle
I’ll admit that there is a period of his work (late 80’s and 90’s) where I wasn’t as interested in his approach, it seemed old and dated. Recently he had a bit of a comeback with his more photo-oriented collage work, and the cardboard work had been given new life with a traveling show.
There is a period in time, when New York was at the height of it’s power as “the place where art was made” and RR was there. I’m referring to the Castelli gallery, along with Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Frank stella, et al. this group of artists, along with the major abstract expressionists defined American Art to the world for the late 20th century and many would say they still are. Rauschenberg was one of the truly original artists of his time.
I’m glad I can still see his work, but I miss him already.
RR film clip about the “Erased deKooning drawing”