Robert Rauschenberg
Tate Modern 1 DECEMBER 2016 - 2 APRIL 2017
£18.50 (members free)
Robert Rauschenberg is legendary amongst modern artists, paving the path for many of his followers and future abstract expressionists. This exhibition celebrates a vast range of Rauschenberg's works spanning over six decades.
Rauschenberg's works begin with his focus upon discarded objects of the New York streets and move right through into his politicised pop art works of his later career. The early works use traffic signs, stuffed animals and objects of the home such as doorframes and mirrors in order to dissolve the gap between interior and exterior of the domestic sphere. There are also objects such as stuffed animals which Rauschenberg has put his own spin on, painting both on and around the animals and positioning various objects next to them in order to convey a message.
Following from this, viewers are presented with a massive container containing 1,000 gallons of bubbling mud (named by Rauschenberg as 'listening mud' - link and picture below). The work is an attempt to replicate the surface of the moon (Rauschenberg even had a piece of his artwork sent to the moon - so he's kinda a big deal). Yet this mud could also be representative of Rauschenberg's interest in mixed media - he used sound effects as a backdrop for some of his paintings/films/sculptures. Amongst some of Rauschenberg's most famous works are his pop-art esque silk screens, dominated by explosive colour and political figures such as JFK and Martin Luther King.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r88iDgTd-M
The exhibition is overall very informative about both Rauschenberg's life and the motivation behind his works. However, I must admit I was left wanting a little more. I cannot place my finger on a reason for this feeling, I guess I'd just heard so much about this heroic romanticised figure and was expecting, well, to be a bit more 'WOWED'. The price of the exhibition is a very steep £18.50, a sum I didn't pay thanks to my friends nifty Tate Membership card (it's not what you know, it's who you know...) However, if I had paid this I'm not sure I would have left feely wholly satisfied - controversial, I know.
Overall, an insightful and worth seeing exhibition if you are a fan of Rauschenberg or modern art in general, but just maybe not worth the full £18.50 price tag.
OVERALL RATING: ****
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/robert-rauschenberg
