Robert Rauschenberg

Overdrive (1963)

Materials: silk-screen and oil on a canvas

Robert Rauschenberg was dyslexic, reading was very difficult for him in school sometimes he saw words backward, upside-down, or even double; which he has used as ideas in this art work.

Rauschenberg has used 4 stop signs all facing different directions to make his work look unique. He may also have put the stops signs as he used to see with his eyes when he was in school.

Near the middle of the collage Robert has drawn four birds, each of them are in different position to take off. The one bird flying has a white background to it, to make it stand out as the rest 3 birds are in different positions to take off and has a yellowish gold background. Robert has a faded clock which looks like a hypnotism clock, right at the top middle and the time is 7:17.  As Robert said that his job was to be a witness to his time in history. Clocks were especially interesting to him as he liked thinking about all the different ways we measure time.

Rauschenberg has mostly used black, white and primary colours and a couple faded drawings to give his artwork look old and original. The way he has set out this collage, makes the viewer’s eye focus on the right side from the viewer’s side.
The birds are facing to the right, the backgrounds on the left side is plain white and whereas the background on the right is black and grey which make the collage more stand out on the viewer’s eye. There is an old photograph of the statue of the liberty upside down at the top of the collage. As we know Robert was American and lived in America he may have been to the statue and have some meaning to put the photograph on his work.

Robert Rauschenberg’s Life and Career

Robert Rauschenberg was born on October 22 1925 in Port Arthur, Texas and died on May 12 2008 at the age of 82 in Captiva Florida United States.

Rauschenberg lived and worked in New York City as well as on Captiva Island, Florida until his death from heart failure on May 12, 2008.

  

Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects are employed in combinations. Rauschenberg was both a painter and a sculptor and the Combines are a combination of both. He imagined himself first as a minister and later as a pharmacist. It wasn't until 1947, while in the U.S. Marines that he discovered his aptitude for drawing and his interest in the artistic representation of everyday objects and people.

Rauschenberg also worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1993. He became the recipient of the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts in 1995 in recognition of his more than 40 years of fruitful art making.

Rauschenberg was born as Milton Ernest Rauschenberg in Port Arthur, Texas, the son of Dora Carolina and Ernest R. Rauschenberg. His parents were Fundamentalist Christians. Rauschenberg married Susan Weil in 1950. Their only child, Christopher, was born on July 16, 1951. In 1953 after the end of his marriage; Rauschenberg had romantic relationships with fellow artists Cy Twombly and Jasper Johns.

Rauschenberg was quoted as saying that he wanted to work "in the gap between art and life" suggesting he questioned the distinction between art objects and everyday objects. From the fall of 1952 to the spring of 1953 Rauschenberg travelled through Europe and North Africa with his fellow artist and partner Cy Twombly. In Morocco, he created collages and boxes out of trash. He took them back to Italy and exhibited them at galleries in Rome and Florence.

Rauschenberg thinks that anything such as cardboard, tires, light bulbs, photographs, old clothes, found objects, found images even dirt can be used to make art.

Rauschenberg thought of himself as an artist-reporter. He said his job was to be a witness to his time in history. Clocks were especially interesting to him as he liked thinking about all the different ways we measure time.