Robert Rauschenberg's tactics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Robert Rauschenberg's tactics - Essay Example Abstract expressionism refers to the art movement that emerged and gained impetus after the Second World War. It was considered as the first most important US movement towards the achievement of a global influence and power. The movement was aimed at positioning New York at the heart of the western world art; a position that was previously held by Paris. At the time that Abstract expressionism was gaining popularity in the 1950s, art in the form of combined manufactured goods was also on the rise. Artists had started to bring about changes in their art, inculcating household items and items of daily use into artwork. This type of art is seen in the works of Robert Rauschenberg, more specifically in his combines. His combines were the classic precursors of the Pop Art movement that Rauschenberg became interested in after the 1950s. Rauschenberg was an artist who entered art at the time Abstract expressionism was in its heyday after the Second World War. However, he came to reject that form of art. Leo Steinberg refers to Rauschenberg's art as a flatbed image surface since his art came to compromise of ethnic and cultural pictorial representations and related objects. Such a form of imagery and art were in an open conflict with the previous forms of art practiced earlier which fell under the category of modernism and modernism. Rauschenberg was known for making use of found pictures in his work but he juxtaposed these images with real objects. His artwork is regarded as Neo-Dada.... His combines were the classic precursors of the Pop Art movement that Rauschenberg became interested in after the 1950s. Rauschenberg was an artist who entered art at the time Abstract expressionism was in its heyday after the Second World War. However he came to reject that form of art. Leo Steinberg refers to Rauschenberg's art as a flatbed image surface since his art came to compromise of ethnic and cultural pictorial representations and related objects. Such a form of imagery and art were in an open conflict with the previous forms of art practiced earlier which fell under the category of modernism and premodernism. Rauschenberg was known for making use of found pictures in his work but he juxtaposed these images with real objects. His artwork is regarded as Neo-Dada since it incorporates found elements as well as real objects. The found elements were initially used by artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Kurt Schwitters. Rauschenberg was motivated by the works of Schwitters and it was this inspiration that drove him to walk around neighborhoods, looking for objects to incorporate into his paintings. He was of the point of view that his combines should at least be as attention-grabbing as events occurring outside the window are. The reason for such an assertion was that he felt that since he was making use of real objects in his paintings and collages, the artwork would resemble the real world more once it is completed. Rauschenberg worked with collages extensively and he built upon them and diversified the elements that could be incorporated into them by the process of silkscreening photographs.3 This opened a vista of opportunities and choices for him. He used pictures