No limits on art Posted on May 16th
Robert Rauschenberg, 82, the American painter, sculptor, printmaker, photographer and performance artist who was one of the most influential artists in the second half of the 20th Century, died Monday at his home in Captiva Island, Fla., according to news reports. Mr. Rauschenberg died of heart failure, said Arne Glimcher, chairman of PaceWildenstein, the Manhattan gallery that represented the artist.
A prolific worker in many media that he combined according to his own rules, Mr. Rauschenberg was as much a catalyst for others as a creator who sought to operate in an aesthetic no-man’s land, which he famously called “the gap between art and life.”
Like his friends and collaborators composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham, Mr. Rauschenberg brought together chance procedures and everyday experiences, and found materials to create pieces that testified to new possibilities in art. Such openness, along with his habitual blurring of boundaries among media, gave a model for generations of artists.
“His ferocious, almost omnivorous creativity as a young artist in the [late] ’40s, ’50s and even into the ’60s was so liberating for his generation and the generation that followed,” said James Cuno, director of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Trackback URL