From Texas to Florida
For my curation, I would like to present fifteen Rauschenberg pieces, rather than just one mixed in with a variety of artists. Personally, I have become a fan of Rauschenberg since beginning my research and am very attracted to his artwork. His work captivates his enthusiasm for pop culture, his rejection of Abstract Expressionism, eclectic use of found materials, and his inventiveness, which remains entertaining and relevant today due to the way he breaks the rules. His way of invention and breaking the rules is something I’d like to capture with this exhibition I’ve created. Fair warning, this would not be your average exhibit. Before Rauschenberg’s death in 2008, he had been recreating some of his final pieces in a new way, and he saw the process like it was an autobiography he was writing, a reflection of himself. With this in mind, I’ve chosen both his earliest and newest pieces.
To maintain the quality of inventiveness, there are two things I’d like to do, to start. One, I’d like to present his work in pairs. The pairs would contain a work created around the fifties and sixties, and another work from the nineties to early two-thousands. By maintaining an autobiographic theme, we can look at his works as an autobiography, time shown side by side. This may reveal similarities, differences, and his return to concepts almost 50 years later, revealing and resisting new narratives. The second thing I’d like to do is break the rules of curating by using interactivity. Let’s force a participant to really look around, find his pieces, and feel like they’re on an adventure inside Rauschenberg’s mind. The pairs don’t have to be side by side. Let’s connect them in an engaging way.
An example would be one of his pieces with the “One Way” sign, Black Market. Beginning with that, the viewer follows the direction down a hall to the second piece in the pair; two canvases with a ladder in between, Winter Pool. There’s a bit of a story beginning to form. If the viewer knew this exhibit had a particular placement of pieces and the pieces themselves could hint at where the next piece is… well if you saw that ladder, I would hope your next action would be to look up. You might find the next artwork on the ceiling. Instead of just standing in front of a sculpture, the viewer is encouraged to walk around it and see what could be hiding behind it. Rauschenberg also made audio tapes, which I would love to have playing during the exhibit so the participants get a unique sound and visual experience. See where I’m going with this? Let’s take the thoughts and ideas that Rauschenberg was expressing throughout his entire career, and bring them to life in this exhibit in every way possible.
