Photo source: Wikimedia Commons, Jack de Nijs / Anefp, CC0 1.0
Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) was an American artist best known for his contributions to abstract art. Wikipedia says,
"Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954-1964), a group of artworks which incorporated everyday objects as art materials and which blurred the distinctions between painting and sculpture." (Wikipedia: Robert Rauschenberg, 8.1.21 UTC 18:12)Writer Robert Hughes said,
"Rauschenberg's references to other media aren't just tricks. They're an integral part of the way he connects the language of his images to that of a wider world." (The Spectacle of Skill - Selected Writings of Robert Hughes)The rest of this post is some quotes from Rauschenberg.
Art creation
"...I put my trust in the materials that confront me, because they put me in touch with the unknown. It is then that I begin to work... when I don't have the comfort of sureness and certainty." (Quoted in Robert Rauschenberg: An Audience of One by John Gruen)
"The duty or beauty of a painting is that there is no reason to do it nor any reason not to. It can be done as a direct act or contact with the moment and that is the moment you are awake and moving." (The White and Black Paintings, 1961)
"I like the aliveness of it [theater] - that awful feeling of being on the spot. I must assume the responsibility for that moment, for those actions that happen at that particular time. I don't find theater that different from painting... I tend to think of working as a kind of involvement with materials, as well as rather focused interest which changes." (Interview with Richard Kostelanetz, 1968)
"I am always afraid of explaining what I am doing, because my mind works so perversely. If I know why I am doing something it immediately goes to another channel and I try not to do that anymore... To much information is an obstacle to seeing. My works are created to be seen." (Interview with Alai Sayag, 1981)
