By train to London on the 16th to see the Robert Rauschenberg exhibition at Tate Modern. An excellent, challenging retrospective of his life’s work, from tiny to vast, calm to anarchic, simple to complex. An exhortation to consider how we look at the world; and an exploration of the potential for art to bring together different cultures. A defining image? Retroactive II, 1964, ‘the optimism and tragedy of the 1960’ combined in one picture.
Rauschenberg’s work poses a challenge for curators, who delight in including on caption cards the media used to create the work. Forget ‘oil on canvas’. Here the media provide the vocabulary for Dadaist declarations. Necktie shoe heel tennis ball / taxidermised Angora goat / umbrella door knob toothpaste / ceramic dog on bicycle seat.
The galleries showing the permanent collection were full of students with their note books and work sheets. These four were following in the honourable tradition of art students sitting in galleries copying the masters to better understand the work and improve their technique. But this is 2017: they were copying from pictures taken on their phones.
Photos: Tate Modern, London, March 2017