Collections Database

Description:
fragmentary image of white painted surface with mounted electrical outlet wrapped in Chirstmas lights on top half; chain-link fence on bottom half

Label Text:
Rauschenberg emerged as an artist during the mid-1950s with an aesthetic based on collage and rooted in the everyday detritus and imagery of American life.

Many of Rauschenberg’s two-dimensional works created between 1962 and the early 1990s utilized photographic images that were screenprinted onto other surfaces. In 1991 he began to explore digital printing as a substitute for screen printing. The Waterworks (1992-1995) is a series of unique prints created from digitally manipulated images printed on a clear gelatin matrix in biodegradable soy inks which are then dampened with water to transfer the image to a sheet of paper. The resulting image seen in this print from the series exploits the flatness and uneven surfaces created by the transfer process to bring attention to the textures of the wall and chain-link fence depicted.

This arresting image from the Waterworks series was given by the artist to John Podesta in appreciation for Podesta’s role in the passage of the 1990 Visual Artists Rights Act. This landmark legislation provides legal protection for artists against unauthorized mutilation or change of their artwork.

Tags:
abstract

Subjects:
Art, Abstract

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+2015.25

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