From Beijing via Hong Kong to London, it’s the year of Robert Rauschenberg
Influential artist whose work some see as providing the ‘missing link’ between abstraction and pop art is having a moment, with a show in China recalling his 1985 visit, a major retrospective and smaller shows in various galleries
This year is not a particularly significant anniversary for Robert Rauschenberg, the American artist born in 1925 and who died in 2008. But the launch of an in-depth touring retrospective in the winter and a major Beijing exhibition starting in June, plus countless gallery shows – including two in Hong Kong – make this a great year for exploring the work of an artist credited with sparking a move towards the everyday in art.
He rebelled against the abstract expressionism of Pollock and Rothko, which he felt was merely art for art’s sake rather than art that reflected the dramatic changes sweeping through America’s post-war society and economy.
Rauschenberg turned his focus towards the ordinary and, Duchamp-like, made discarded objects such as a rusty bicycle frame into an art installation. In addressing the hedonism of post-war consumption, he opened the door to pop art, inspiring artists such as Andy Warhol, even if he rejected the label for his own work.
Since his death, the Rauschenberg Foundation has continued to promote the artist’s oeuvre. His work is hard to categorise; he spent his long career experimenting with all kinds of materials, merging paintings with sculptures and moving beyond visual art to collaborate with composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham.
Its main focus this year is a retrospective that starts at the Tate Modern on November 30, travels to the Museum of Modern Art in New York in May 2017, and finishes at the expanded San Francisco MoMA in the winter of 2017.