• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Photo

No one could accuse artist Robert Rauschenberg of being out of touch with American life. Viewing Rauschenberg’s 70 pieces currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art is at times like stepping into the 1950s, with the exhibit’s liberal use of newspapers, neckties, Coca-Cola bottles, baseballs and even pin-up girls cut from magazines.

Yet to solely label these pieces as retro would be a mistake. Though most were composed nearly 50 years ago, they remain strikingly innovative and very modern.

The pieces are “combines,” which is both the name of the exhibit and Rauschenberg’s title for the genre he has developed. To make them, Rauschenberg adopts a unique mixed media process, updating the basic collage format by including a third dimension, thus creating a combination of painting and sculpture.

Although each work on display falls into the category of a combine, Rauschenberg continually explores and reconceptualizes the genre.

He designed “Minutiae” (1954) as a stage set for a modern dance performance. The work deftly unites diverse textures and various mediums, such as wood, paint, fabric and metal, and strongly projects its three-dimensionality.

Other works appear to be predominantly two-dimensional collages, but aren’t. “Satellite” (1955) seems two-dimensional until viewers’ eyes reach a stuffed pheasant resting on the top of the work.

“Monogram” (1955-1959) revolves around a stuffed Angora goat that Rauschenberg bought for $15 at a second-hand shop. He later painted the face to mask scratches and imperfections, added a rubber tire to the goat’s neck, and eventually placed the goat on a separate collaged platform.

Rauschenberg’s innovation is remarkable. How many of his colleagues would actually consider adding a sock and parachute to their canvas, as he does in “Untitled” (1955)?

But what’s really impressive is the way Rauschenberg seamlessly integrates a large number of elements (sometimes over 10 in one combine) to work effectively as a unit. From a distance, many of the household items he includes just appear to be textural variations – only a closer look exposes their true forms.

The combines also reveal Rauschenberg to be a master of balance.

His “Winter Pool” (1959) consists of two canvases of different widths but the same height, hung flat on the wall with a wooden ladder bridging the space between them. It sounds unconventional, but seeing it makes you realize that it just works.

Rauschenberg’s work is often strongest when it sticks to themes. “Small Rebus” (1956) conveys a kinetic motif of athleticism, featuring newspaper photos of acrobats, horses and a matador, divided by a central band of commercial paint chips and frenzied dashes of paint that link the motion captured in each photo to the work as a whole.

Also evident in “Small Rebus” is an additional theme that Rauschenberg explores in several Combines – joining the old with the new. Near the newspaper photo of a matador is a small reprint of Titian’s “The Rape of Europa.”

By incorporating past paintings into his works, Rauschenberg asserts himself as a rightful heir to the art masters.

While the “Combines” exhibit is unlikely to convert those who have a distaste for modern art to begin with, it offers a fascinating look into the unique creative process of Robert Rauschenberg, and the subtle development of abstract expressionism (think Jackson Pollock or Willem de Kooning) into pop art.

– Natalie Tate

E-mail Tate at ntate@media.ucla.edu.