Last night iconic 20th-century artist, Robert Rauschenberg, passed away at the age of eighty-two; survived by Christopher Rauschenberg, his son, and Darryl Pottorf, his companion and fellow artist. 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 1950’s, Rauschenberg was most famous for his signature pieces entitled, “Combines,” or works comprised of found materials and paint. As he became an icon of the Pop-Art scene, while residing in New York for the majority of his art career, Rauschenberg had a remarkable penchant 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 the norm for Robert. His most popular Combine Monogram (1955-1959) features a stuffed goat with an automobile tire around its neck.

By the early 60’s, he started to incorporate objects like clothing, newspaper clippings, Coca-Cola bottles, and taxidermal creatures, as well as found images, including photographs, into his work. The silkscreening process also enabled him to transfer images directly onto canvas, resulting in multiple reproductions. These hybrid works strongly influenced the Pop Art movement and modern graphic designers like Ian Francis owe a huge debt to him.

As an important forerunner in the art movement, he moved naturally from his previous aesthetic of 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 seventy-five 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 collaboration between artists and engineers. This further stimulated Rauschenberg’s interest in creating functioning, electronic art pieces like “Rose Conodor (Scale)” (1977).

In addition to E.A.T., Rauschenberg established another groundbreaking acronymned 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. He was greatly inspired during this transcendent period in his life, which produced yet 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.

via Kim Hellweg, 13 May 2008 6:13pm | 6 |