Robert Rauschenberg Dies at 82
May 15, 2008 at 1:53 PM
On Monday, May 12th Robert Rauschenberg died of heart failure at his home in Captiva Island, Florida. He was 82 years old. Since his death, articles and news casts have reflected on the artists life and work and this gave me my own opportunity to consider why this artist has left such an impression on me.
Art has always been a part of my life but I never really started paying attention to it until I was in high school. At that point, I started hopping on the Metro and spending long hours alone in the National Gallery and the Hirshhorn trying to absorb everything and extract my own interpretations and meaning. At that time, Rauschenberg’s “Retroactive” hung in the east wing and I always marveled at this combination of silk screen, painting, and images from 1960s pop-culture. For the life of me I couldn’t determine what the painting was all about (and still can’t) but I couldn’t deny the fact that I adored it.
Today, I think what draws me about Rauschenberg was his unrelenting sense of fun. He seemed to reject the angst of the abstract expressionism that came before him and injected life into his everyday world by unapologetically honoring mundane objects. Tires, bedding, a stuffed angora goat, and performances on roller skates filled his work and he was once quoted as saying, “I really feel sorry for people who think things like soap dishes or mirrors or Coke bottles are ugly because they’re surrounded by things like that all day long, and it must make them miserable.”
Embracing everyday life seemed to be his mantra and I think that’s what I will take away. I appreciate this lesson and I am grateful that his voice will continue to be heard, despite his recent passing.