81.3 x 59.7 cm/ 32 x 23.5 in.. Signed and dated recto lower center in pencil
, pigment transfer on polylaminate, 217.2 x 154.9 cm. / 85 1/2 x 61 in. Signed and dated lower edge ‘RAUSCHENBERG 2K+1’; artist’s registration number inscribed on reverse ‘201.022’.
165.4 x 46.3 x 46.3 cm. / 65 1/8 x 18 1/4 x 18 1/4 in., titled, signed and inscribed with artist’s registration number on underside ‘KLAXON PISA GLUT RAUSCHENBERG 88.199’.
Robert Rauschenberg: Metal, Ink and Dye: Late Works from Captiva Island at Bastian, London
18 Jan 2021 – 27 Mar 2021
All Images courtesy of Goodman Gallery
This exhibition focuses on Rauschenberg’s metal assemblages from the Glut series (1986-89 and 1991-94) and a selection of innovative dye-transfer works from the Anagram (A Pun) (1997- 2000) and Short Stories (2000-2002) series.
Escaping the dizzying hurriedness of New York in 1968, Rauschenberg found a sanctuary on a small sun-drenched island just off the coast of Florida, called Captiva. It was this new island home that proved to be a fertile domain for some of the artist’s most remarkable and challenging works. Here, BASTIAN uncovers a selection of works from this late period on Captiva Island which showcase not only Rauschenberg’s use of ink transfers and printing technology but his use of metal in ever more imaginative and inventive ways. The exhibition includes three groundbreaking Glut sculptures, a series that underpinned the artist’s intensive investigation into the sculptural possibilities of found metal objects.
Witnessing first-hand the desolation caused by a recessive Texan economy struggling to stay afloat due to a glut in the oil market in the early ’80s, Rauschenberg’s Glut sculptures narrate an American obsession with lavish extravagance which is part social criticism, part automotive/industrial relic, but fundamentally absolute Americana.
