Robert Rauschenberg is a prolific and deeply inspiring artist, with work that is consistent with collage, sculpture, assemblage and painting. He considers himself a “combine” artist in the way he combines different mediums in one piece. For my initial object exploration I want to investigate his mixed media sculpture “Monogram” from 1955-1959, which depicts a goat through a rubber tire. The materials he used were a taxidermy goat, rubber tires, oil paint, paper, fabric, photographs, metal, wood, and even a tennis ball. Rauschenberg utilizes all these materials in order to create vast textures such as the fur of the stuffed goat contrasted with the oil paints splattered on the face of the goat. These work in relation to the natural state of the animal and the man made state of the rubber tire that it’s protruding out of. The goat is placed on top of a wood and metal plank with collaged photos and other various objects. This plank would usually be hung onRob a wall with a vertical composition and placed in a gallery, yet Rauschenberg wanted to break the rules of how we view 2D and 3D pieces.
This piece is raises infinite questions and almost begs to be analyzed. For instance, the entire meaning of what the goat through the tire actually depicts is up to interpretation and relies heavily on Rauschenberg’s background and personal life. This design is inspiring to me as a collage artist because he is brilliant in working in endless amounts of mediums and having a cohesive and relatable piece in the finished state. His usage of 2D collages, paintings, screenprinting, with a protruding 3D sculptural element transcends the conventional ideas of what each medium can achieve alone. I’m interested in the process to make such a piece, and where the materials were gathered. Lastly, there are many questions about Rauschenberg’s influence for this piece, and how it reads to the viewers and critics. I am interested in finding out how it was perceived and the intent of the artist.
