R.I.P. R.R., October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008

Photograph by Burton Berinsky/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images.

Don't we all owe Robert Rauschenberg? He invented the mash-up, the re-mix, the re-use, and inhabited the cherished notion that art is not one thing but anything, that you can use anything, any media, to express your vision. The New York Times article offers a beautiful but limited summary of his life and work, which embraced so many different opportunities and approaches and yet had a quality of organic evolution and internal consistency. Erasing de Kooning, painting over the only purchased painting from his first show, roller skating on stage, merging sound and still and movement, mixing technologies: all playful, collagist, and reconsiderate.

Bon Voyage R.R. May the next journey be worthy of you!

Photo Source
Rauschenberg, Robert (1925-2008) © VAGA, NY

First Landing Jump, 1961.
Combine painting: cloth, metal, leather, electric fixture, cable and oil paint on composition board; overall, including automobile tire and wooden plank on floor, 7' 5 1/8" x 6' x 8 7/8".
Gift of Philip Johnson. (434.1972)
Location :The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, U.S.A.

Photo Credit : Digital Image (c) The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY