Robert Rauschenberg Art Analysis

 

   


Robert Rauschenberg, Black Market (1961) Oil paint, watercolour, crayons, printed paper, rope, metal and other various found objects.
Image source:http://0.tqn.com/d/arthistory/1/0/R/S/rrc_15.jpg

    Robert Rauschenberg was born in 1925 in Port Arthur Texas and died on the 12 ^th of May 2008 in Captiva Florida. He was a part of the pop art movement and worked using techniques such as screen printing, collage and sculpture.

   The piece of artwork I am analysing is the combine (a technique popularized by Rauschenberg which is a hybrid of sculpture and painting) ‘Black Market’ (1961). The canvas is square with paper in grey and blue covering the base then oil and watercolour paint has been swirled on top which resembles a stormy polluted sky but the earth tones used at the bottom of the canvas give an industrialised city effect. The second layer is of a number plate in the bottom left and a signpost in the top right; Rauschenberg composed these two signs well as they are at opposite sides of the canvas so they give a chaotic feel to the piece but due to their positioning they add symmetry to the piece so it isn’t too obscure and the city scene of the artwork is still clear. At the top right is a one-way sign with a piece of string attached which is tied to suitcase on the floor. Finally on the top layer of the canvas are 4 metallic notebooks which look like lights due to how they reflect, similar to lights you would see on a busy street like the first layer of the art work depicts.

   Although at first ‘Black Market’ appears to have no clear lines it is actually constructed of many straight objects clashing at different angles, I think this really shows the relation to a city as cities are mainly many straight rectangular buildings but the artwork shows how crowding causes everything to overlap and look chaotic. The texture of the piece is messy and dirty-looking this could be because Rauschenberg liked to work with found objects to create assemblage work (the composition of a 3D piece of artwork made using found objects) such as the New York rubbish he found on the streets then shaped it into buildings; effectively ‘Black Market’ is supposed to be a scene of New York made from New York.

   The artwork is composed to drag the viewer’s eye towards the suitcase on the floor due to the string hanging off the one way sign. I think this piece was created to get people to share more as the people are encouraged to take an item from the suitcase and leave an item for someone else in there, then write in the notebooks on the canvas what they took and left. This is why the piece is called black market as it’s an unofficial exchange of objects and I think it shows that everyone is a blur in a chaotic city where no one properly talks or communicates but this piece makes people exchange an object with someone they don’t know which shows a simple message of sharing in a busy atmosphere.   

 

    The artwork could also relate to current events in early 60s America such as the civil rights movement and segregation; this could show Rauschenberg’s support for the movement as the combine convinces anyone to share with everyone no matter who they are. This is also reflected in how the objects exchanged are just exchanged without looking at how much they are worth; this reflects how objects are worth different amounts to different people because of sentimental value not monetary worth.

   It’s difficult to see how this combine relates to Rauschenberg’s life during its creation, as combines often have no clear layout or straight forward focus point. Therefore I think the piece is more reflective of Rauschenberg’s surroundings of New York where he lived in 1961 and how he saw the chaos and change of New York during the 60s.

I find the printing technique used over the grey background using black ink interesting as it looks a like paint dripping from graffiti, I think this is really effective as it gives an urban look which matches the city scene Rauschenberg has created. I will probably try to recreate the technique of a same colour print over a background of different textures in my own artwork as I find the technique effective to create a faded, aged effect.