Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg is best known as an artist whose work bridged Abstract Expressionism and the Pop Art Movement. A student of the Black Mountain College, in North Carolina, Rauschenberg under the tutelage of Josef Albers and friend John Cage, he experimented with combining non traditional materials and objects, in doing so created “combines.” His work is sometimes referred to as “Neo-Dada” because of his use of found objects and images in his art, taking everyday imagery and objects and transferring them into the realm of contemporary art. Throughout his career he has utilized mixed media, blurring the line between painting and sculpture.

In 1962, Rauschenberg began working with the silkscreen process. Throughout his career, Rauschenberg has utilized photographic images, transferring them onto canvas giving them an entirely different meaning by the use of juxtaposition and color.

The Studies for Chinese Summerhall is a collection of photographs taken by Rauschenberg on a trip to China in 1982. With his eye for composition of art in the mundane, Rauschenberg captured a unique glimpse of everyday life in China. In collaboration with Graphicstudio Atelier, Rauschenberg collaged fifty two of the photographs into the 100 foot long photograph, Chinese Summerhall. Before the negatives were trimmed and collaged into this photograph, Rauschenberg decided to make editions of a number of individual photographs. Studies for Chinese Summerhall is comprised of two series. The first is a series of eighteen photographs, sized 30”x40”; and the second series of ten sized 24”x30”

Images courtesy of Graphicstudio/USF