ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG

Robert Rauchenberg

Robert Rauschenberg was one of the most formative artist in my career.  I remember being introduced to his work as a college student.  He approached art in a bold dynamic way using his own rules.  Until I saw his work I didn't know all the things art could be or do.  At the time my university was busy holding the line from one department to another, clay was clay, sculpture was sculpture, and mixed media had not yet found its place.  I found my home in Robert Rauchenburg, I was a mixed media conceptual artist who worked intuitively and there before me was the shinning light in the dark tunnel I had been traveling in.  His larger than life combines and use of found objects, objects used and touched and worn by time and use...artifacts of our time.  
He worked in NYC in the time of Jasper Johns and Cage.  There was a passion among these young NYC artists, they felt as if they were on the breaking edge of the art wold...and they were riding a crest wave of new art and a new way of looking at art.  

Elizabeth Gordon/Mixed Media/Influenced by Rauchenberg

He came to Florida, as James Rosenquist, looking for good light and warmth to work year round.  He built a studio in Captiva, Florida on the South West Gulf Coast.  His home and studio were built out over the water amid the mangroves and herons that frequent there.  His work became larger, and his photo and print works larger and more multicultural.  He was a man with a big heart, traveling to other countries, working with their artist and culture and integrating into his own work.  

I found other links of common bonds, he studied under Joseph Albers, who came to speak late in his life to my university, he worked with and supported causes that supported autism and artist with austism,  I worked with autistic youth in art, he worked and studied in Black Mountain near Asheville where I have a home, He worked with Donald Saff, an art professor from my university, and he loved Florida as I do.
I recently found out there is a museum and gallery in Captiva that houses his work, as well as, the Gugginheim in NYC.  I am very excited to go, and to enjoy his gallery and the area.  I hope you will explore his work, and plan a trip to see his gallery in Captiva, Florida-a beautiful part of this world. He was an artist with a unique vision whose innovation in the arts has forever changed the art world.