Robert Rauschenberg 9 Essential audiobooks
Rauschenberg: Art and Life by Mary Lynn Kotz
‘Notes to accompany an exhibition’ would be a fitting title for this book for those who are unaware of Mary Lynn Kotz’ revised/updated biography of Robert Rauschenberg as they currently enjoy the spectacular traveling exhibition of his works, COMBINES, currently filling the generous spaces of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Though the accompanying exhibition catalogue/book COMBINES, also available through Amazon.com, touches on many aspects of Rauschenberg’s life, Kotz is a bit more conversational and adds to the art history aspect of the painter’s life by a broader survey of his output.
Rauschenberg is about as American as they come, being born in Texas to a conservative family, destined for a career in the ministry but instead electing to flee the home and settle in New York where his more bohemian aspects blossomed into the important art figure he has become. His life has been enriched by alliances with Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham, by struggle with some addictions, a bumpy personal life, but he has always been a warm, friendly, rather selfless artist who was unafraid to create art that reflects his life and times.
Some of the more helpful information Kotz delivers concerns Rauschenberg’s idiosyncratic art techniques, creative modes in painting, photography, collage, construction, print making, and contributions to the theater (not only with sets designed for ballets, but incorporating poetry and media in a poignant manner into his sculptural works). Rauschenberg the Humanitarian also emerges as an icon for other artists to emulate in his serious work with global communication within the arts as a manner of inviting meaningful international conversation.
The book contains a generous number of full color plates of his art and his conceptual stages. The broad aspect of the works Kotz elects to include is very much in her favor as a biographer. For those who wish to understand the man behind the extraordinary art that is traveling the country, add this fine volume to the library. Highly recommended.
Robert Rauschenberg: Combines by Robert Rauschenberg and Paul Schimmel
This audiobook is a catalogue for current exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and then the Museum of Contemporary Art, LA, and in Europe at the Pompidou Center, Paris and the Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
As installed at the Metropolitan Museum of art, the show is stunning. It’s astonishing that this exhibit is the first time these works from the 1950′s have been shown together. These “combines” — art somewhere between painting, collage, and sculpture — are a foundation of modern art, so much so that art of the second half of the century is hardly conceivable without them. This makes looking at the work afresh more difficult than usual, since seeing these pieces together in 2006 means also viewing through a legacy and school of influence.
But what phenomenal pieces they are! You can see Rauschenberg gobbling down visual techniques whole – collage, assemblage, juxtaposing printed images, materials, sculpture. They are daringly junky and breathtakingly beautiful. I have know idea whether you’d call this conceptual art, or the most luscious, messy opposite of conceptual art you’ve ever seen. The works are fearlessness. Really inspiring.
The catalogue has excellent reproductions, and the photography is quite good at conveying the depth of the pieces – some of the works are presented from several angles so the more sculptural pieces are well conveyed.
Robert Rauschenberg: Cardboards and Related Pieces (Menil Collection) by Yve-Alain Bois, Clare Elliott, and Josef Helfenstein
These works have a special place in Rauschenberg’s oeuvre, taking his marriage of art and life to the extreme. They are profoundly literal, and to my mind, the most audacious things he’s ever done. Here it is. If you want art in the modern world, if you want to see beauty in the world around you, take a cardboard box and put it on the wall. That’s it. Funny how his imagination then drove him to elaborate on this theme, from simple compositions to complex phrasings in cardboard boxes, to the extremes of trompe l’oeil, flourescent back-lighting, and other technically refined means, all to explore the basic premise: beauty is all around us, even in our cast-offs. And what we think of as disposable says a lot about our priorities. The superb essays in this book do their job of illuminating the art without smothering it in analysis. The works speak for themselves. I wish I could have seen the exhibition at Menil, though I did get to see many of these pieces at Sonnabend Gallery in NYC in the early 90s. This is a great book for the lover of modern art, but also anyone who’s ever spent quality time staring in rapt adoration at an oily mud puddle or a pile of raked leaves. Essential!!!
Robert Rauschenberg: Breaking Boundaries by Robert Saltonstall Mattison and Robert Rauschenberg
“… introduction Robert Rauschenberg is one of the most prolific and best-known artists of …”
Reflections of an artist mind unleashed, Rauschenberg’s images of political and social issues are portayed through scattered images and expressive paint strokes. His use of mixed media portrays an intensity between his paintings and the connection expressed in his life and his surroundings.
Random Order: Robert Rauschenberg and the Neo-Avant-Garde (October Books) by Branden W. Joseph
This study of Rauschenberg will doubtless make itself pretty much indispensable in the literature on the artist. It’s a brilliant study- Joseph is in command of the literature on the topic, demonstrates a great deal of theoretical sophistication, as well as showing a lot of sensitivity to the works and their context.
Joseph’s contention is to explore Rauschenberg’s work in relation to the Neo-avant-garde, seeking to show that his work (along with his colleague John Cage) was neither a farcical repetition of 1920s Dada (ie jaded attempts to “shock” the viewer), nor was it an ironic casting-off of the avant-garde project in favour of a capitulation to commodity capitalism (ie through his pop culture references and so on). Instead, Joseph argues- convincingly- that Rauschenberg (and Cage) sought to escape the tyranny of the self- the “ego” of Absract Expressionism, in order to open up perception to differentiation and multiplicity- an attempt to open up a space beyond the totalised structures of late capitalism. (Joseph’s concerns give away his being an ex-student of Benjamin Buchloh- hence these particularly Frankfurt School concerns). So for Joseph, Rauschenberg’s White Paintings, or his Tire Print with John Cage, were not simply juvenile pranks, nor farcical, worn-out shock tactics, but serious attempts to disclocate habitual modes of perception and cognition- in this way, Rauschenberg both differs from, and continues the avant-garde project of political change.
Joseph makes a good case- in particular, his first chapter, on Rauschenberg and Cage, where he examines their interest in temporality and flux in relation to the ideas of Bergson, is quite brilliant. But the level of discussion is sustained throughout- it’s a compelling and fascinating read which will doubtless provoke a great deal of thought.
As you would expect from the MIT Press, its not a study for the lay reader- the usual phalanx of thinkers are brought to bear- Foucault, Deleuze, Bataille and the like- although Joseph draws on them judiciously, without detracting from the focus of his study. In fact its very readable indeed- Joseph hasn’t succumbed (yet) to the puffed-up rhetorical excesses of some of his October colleagues.
Rauschenberg Posters by Marc Gundel
Addressing the Rauschenberg posters, I had expected more on the earlier years, particularly the civil rights posters and processes, and I was disappointed. But that not withstanding, you will find much rich material and insights which make this books worth owning.
Robert Rauschenberg: Transfer Drawings of the 1960s by Lewis Kachur, Jonathan O’Hara, and Robert Rauschenberg
Off the Wall: A Portrait of Robert Rauschenberg by Calvin Tomkins
“… Castelli’s New York gallery repre- sented both Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, which gave him a certain leverage. …”
Incredibly informative. Thomkins provides excrutiating detail in the most interesting way. Never a dull moment. If you have any interest in Rauschenberg, Johns, Happenings, etc., then you should read this book. There is no way that you will walk away without learning MANY new things.
Paris Changing: Revisiting Eugene Atget’s Paris by Christopher Rauschenberg, Rosamond Bernier, Alison Nordstrom, and Clark Worswick
“… of la belle epoch. In his remarkable rephotographv project Christopher Rauschenberg‘s absolute passion for the work of Atget is clear. With …”
Last summer I saw the Atget exhibit at the Bibliotheque Nationale, which was a marvelous passage through a lost time. This book matches some of those absorbing old photos with photos of the same location taken today. I think it’s a fascinating book and I can lose myself in the nuances while comparing the photos. This pasttime may not be to everyone’s taste, but I highly recommend the book to thoughtful people who enjoy looking at things.
Tags: Biography, rauschenberg, Robert Rauschenberg
