Morse Canvas

     I firmly believe that it is the responsibility of art spaces to extend the viewers understanding of each body of work within a given era. Historical context must take priority in order for the moment of experience to create as many questions as it answers. Consequently, the social features of a piece provide a consistent view into the past as well as provide a point of reflection for present social conditions. This is an area I am the most invested in as part of my art history major at Virginia Commonwealth University. Artsy is committed to providing a sound and concise recollection of events that are considered fundamental to both the professional gallery world and academia through educational tools such as The Art Genome Project. This real world agenda enables the work to surpass common ideas of what kinds of conversations art can provoke through establishing various connections.

      I am most interested in exploring how these elements interact and form their own dialogue in the exhibit, “Morse Canvas“. This exhibit provides a map of Rauschenberg’s own progression from the anti-expressive, evident in his monochromatic series, to a vibrant, explosiveness of enthusiasm and emotion captured best in his combines, as result of the bonds formed during an intense period of oppression for the queer community. Robert Rauschenberg’s exchanges with other artists within the gay community served to further his creative complexity and methods, adding an element of personal imprinting into his work absent from his earlier series. The exhibit exemplifies and expands upon the codes and interactions generated in Robert Rauschenberg’s works, which surfaced as a result of these personal relationships. The motifs Rauschenberg created allowed for hidden communication in plain view while contributing to greater themes of homosexuality’s place in society. Rauschenberg and other prolific artists in the queer community including his former partner Jasper Johns, composer John Cage, and choreographer Merce Cunningham, would repeatedly recycle these motifs throughout their collections. The works featured include various elements of the gestural such as encaustic painting, molds, altered ready-mades, and collages of newspapers, comics, and photographs often fused into combines.

 

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I firmly believe that it is the responsibility of art spaces to extend the viewers understanding of each body of work within a given era. Historical context must take priority in order for the moment of experience to create as many questions as it answers. Consequently, the social features of a piece provide a consistent view into the past as well as provide a point of reflection for present social conditions. This is an area I am the most invested in as part of my art history major at Virginia

Commonwealth University