Robert Rauschenberg: Short Stories

6 Jun — 6 Jul 2002

Waddington Galleries is holding an exhibition of recent work by the American artist Robert Rauschenberg. Ten large works from his Short Stories series will be exhibited. These transfer paintings incorporate a process whereby photographic images are transferred in pigment and vegetable dye onto a polylaminate surface. Each work is titled with page and paragraph numbers as if it were a part of a larger story. The viewer is invited to complete the story, as Rauschenberg has written of these works, You are the author.

Rauschenberg was born in Port Arthur, Texas on 22 October 1925. He began studying art in 1947 at the Kansas City Art Institute. He then attended Academie Julien in Paris (1948) and Black Mountain College (1949) where he studied under Josef Albers. His first solo exhibition was at the Betty Parsons Gallery, New York in 1951. In 1954, he moved away from Abstract Expressionism, producing his first Combine works in which he brought together aspects of painting and sculpture, incorporating materials traditionally considered to be outside the artist's reach. In the early 60s Rauschenberg introduced the silk-screen process into his paintings and by referencing contemporary culture, became a pivotal figure in the development of Pop Art.
Rauschenberg's long and varied career has seen his involvement and innovation in painting, sculpture, silkscreen, lithography, photography and printmaking, as well as costume and set design for theatre, dance and performance art. He has also had a sustained commitment to promoting awareness of global issues through his art work for organisations such as the United Nations.

Rauschenberg's work has been exhibited extensively over the last 50 years. The last major retrospective of Rauschenberg's work was held between 1997 and 1999, shown at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum and Guggenheim Museum Soho, New York touring to The Menil Collection, Contemporary Arts Museum and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum Ludwig, Cologne and the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao. Rauschenberg has received numerous awards and honours; he was elected Honorary Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 2000.