Untitled, 1982; Serigraph on Arches Cover paper; Signed Rauschenberg, numbered 20/75, and dated 82 in pencil lower right; Printers chop mark lower left; Published by Anthology Film Archives, New York; Printed by Styria Studio, New York; Size - Sheet: 29 x 21 1/2"; Unframed.
To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!
To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!
Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (1925 – 2008) was an American artist whose early works anticipated the Pop Art movement. He is most known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional (often found) materials and objects were used in innovative combinations. Rauschenberg also worked in the mediums of photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance art. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1993.
Most of Rauschenberg’s printmaking consists of visual collages drawn from a variety of source material. "Untitled," 1982 was created using photo-screenprinting of images that he appropriated from various sources including sports, technology, and advertising. The images were then arranged with little regard to scale or the formal rules of composition. The most striking and readable image is a photograph of a javelin thrower in the lower left, located directly above oil derricks or construction cranes with workers positioning a steel tower. The angle of the crane mirrors the right leg of the athlete, thus balancing the composition. There is a washed-out photograph of a technician working on a computer motherboard, and an image of a start to a cross-country skiing race that was rotated ninety degrees to the left. There are brightly colored cafeteria trays, stacked bowls, plates, knives, forks, and spoons (also a rotated image) seen above. Down from the upper left corner is a band of bright orange-red color, with a puzzle pattern that runs across the composition almost to the middle of the image.
Close up of the Rauschenberg signature, edition number, and date.
Close up of the Styria Studio printer's mark.
It is impossible to read and comprehend every part of the work, which is exactly the point. The images are used and combined with forms and colors to create a work of art that is both representational and abstract. It is the overall impression of the work that is important. Rauschenberg was not interested in creating reality, as he has stated: “Any incentive to paint is as good as any other. There is no poor subject. Painting is always strongest when in spite of composition, color, etc. it appears as a fact, or an inevitability, as opposed to a souvenir or arrangement. Painting relates to both art and life. …I try to act in that gap between the two.”
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