Robert Rauschenburg

Robert Rauschenberg

Born -1925

Piece name- signs (1970)

Silkscreen

Raushenburg was an American artist born in Texas in 1925 that was well known for his painting and collage.
I feel that this piece could be portraying the artist’s views on the political actions at the time. I also feel that it is a portrayal of how the government tried to mask all the bad that went on during this era with one big event plastered over the media this is shown by the large astronaut placed towards the front of the piece as if it is trying to hide all of the terrible things portrayed behind it like JFK and martin Luther king, the Vietnam war Janis Joplin. But there are also some more revolutionary but positive things shown such as the peace movement and Woodstock which isn’t shown directly but can be inferred by the appearance of Janis Joplin.

The piece gives an impression of the government trying to keep their hands clean shown through the white astronaut but contrasted by all the death and destruction left behind. The fact john Kennedy’s head is a large piece could be representative of the fact that the artist was close friends with the family and felt strongly about this certain event. The hues of red could be representative of the anger and conflict during the 1960s or her blood shed as she died to a heroin overdose in 1970 so perhaps the reason she is quite prominent is to pay tribute to her alongside all of the other potential meaning. The use of the colour green contrasts with the red as they are complimentary colours this can draw your eyes around the piece making this an effective composition of elements. The way in which the people with darker skin are almost segregated to the lower right corner of the page could be to show how the stance of race relations at the time as there were many racial attacks up and down the country this could also be seen through the fact that the large white astronaut is placed beside them almost in an almost intimidating way.

So maybe this piece is also showing his stance on race relations by portraying it though some iconic images of the era positioned in a certain way.By the time this piece was created he would’ve been in his mid-forties and would’ve seen how the world has changed, I feel that this is shown by how he is making a stand against the corruption and devastation he is witnessing and the astronaut could be symbolised as the decades saving grace, its one pure and constructive outcome.

His use of silkscreen gives this piece a very flat form as if he is trying to be plain with no texture like he is being blunt and to the point with none of the funny business of attempting to hide the truth like what the government was doing at the time with all of the war and death with the big finale of the space race. The way this is presented in its 2 dimensional format it gives the impression that nothing is being hidden as his subtle use of the use of white and black make the important elements stand out more showing his passion for this viewpoint. He cleverly left outlines on his images maybe to get the viewer to have their eyes follow it round leading your eyes to another interesting element sparking more thought and controversy in the pieces audience. At the time this was put out it would’ve been quite controversial as there weren’t many artists that would do any art of this nature as there wasn’t much freedom of speech despite the many movements striving for this and still today how free are we to speak and do what we like?