Robert Rauschenberg: Signs And Signals – Robert Rauschenberg Foundation

Robert Rauschenberg, Signs And Signals,Robert Rauschenberg Foundation

IN 1965, Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) bought a beautiful red brick building on the auspicious corner of Lafayette Street and East 4th Street. The building, originally a chapel, was part of an orphanage, with the kid’s dormitories demolished and turned into a parking lot. The nearby arts community of the sixties included Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Jean Dubuffet, Lois Dodd, and on the Bowery, Lynda Benglis, John Giorno, Martha Diamond, Eva Hesse and more. Rauschenberg installed a skylight, set up a studio and lived and worked there until 1970 when he moved to Florida. He kept the property until his death.

Rauschenberg’s prescient vision made him one of America’s premier artists for six decades. His 1950s “combines” revolutionised the art scene. When he won the Golden Lion Grand Prize at the 1964 Venice Biennale, it solidified the United States as the centre of the contemporary art world. Rauschenberg also designed the first Earth Day poster in 1970 and pioneered combining art and technology.

Robert Rauschenberg Revolver 1967
Robert Rauschenberg Revolver 1967 Photo: Ilka Scobie

Now open for Saturday appointments until December, “Signs and Symbols” is a collection of his works, some of which are prescient examples of art and technology that focus on signs and symbols as transformative communication. “Revolver II” art and technology work from 1967 empowers the viewer to engage with the artwork to create their interpretations. Rotating plexiglass discs on metal bases with electric motors and control boxes create a psychedelic silkscreened vision, images recreated from imagery found in the contemporary media. The large silkscreen ink and acrylic on bonded aluminium” Wet Flirt (Urban Bourbon)” from 1994 exemplifies the use of his own black and white photographs, gleaned from both NYC and Florida, riffing on gas station logos, food signs from Florida, and sign paintings, all embellished with gestural acrylic paint.

Right now, in this downtown neighbourhood that housed and nurtured artists, other foundations are preserving the work of Robert Frank, photographer, poet, artist and activist John Giorno and painter Martha Diamond. Doubtlessly, all would be pleased.

Robert Rauschenberg: Signs and Signals – Robert Rauschenberg Foundation 281 Lafayette Street NYC

Words: Ilka Scobie Top Photo Foundation interior Ilka Scobie © Artlyst 2024

To schedule an appointment, contact: events@rauschenbergfoundation.org

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