Pegasits/ROCI USA (Wax Fire Works) 1990

Curator: Robert Rauschenberg's "Pegasits/ROCI USA (Wax Fire Works)," created in 1990, is an ambitious mixed-media work incorporating elements of collage, assemblage, and printmaking. What's your initial reaction to it? Editor: Intriguing! There’s a hazy, dreamlike quality. The juxtaposition of hard-edged forms with blurred photographic images feels intentionally jarring, as though you’re sifting through fractured memories in an industrial space. Curator: That's astute. Rauschenberg was deeply invested in blurring the lines between art and the everyday. Consider the found objects integrated here – a metal ladder seemingly defying gravity and sitting over the printed scene below. This references his concern with consumerism and repurposing discarded materials within a fine art context. The culinary shopping list silkscreened at the bottom adds an unexpected layer. Editor: Absolutely. It evokes a kind of ghostly advertisement – these objects, especially the aluminum ladder and fire-prone items, like something rescued from an urban fire and transformed through alchemy. Almost a cynical kind of industrial consumerist phoenix. The integration of photography makes me wonder, does this artwork serve as documentation, intervention, or something else entirely? Curator: Rauschenberg continually sought to question the distinctions between those functions. The piece arose out of his ROCI project – the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange – a project intending to promote understanding through art and international exchange during the Cold War era. So, one could view this "Pegasits" composition as a visual synthesis, a fusion of seemingly disparate fragments collected across varied geographic and cultural terrains. Editor: Knowing that enriches my reading. The Pegasus statue now feels almost defiant amid the detritus of urban and global culture, an echo of classical mythology reborn within this modern bricolage of printed menus, discarded scaffolding, and ghost-like buildings. This image serves almost as a reminder to bring flight and levity to seemingly derelict contexts. It seems to encourage rebirth from scraps. Curator: Indeed. It reveals a remarkable ability to synthesize personal artistic expression with his political and cultural critiques. It remains relevant in the current context, demanding engagement with ideas around sustainability, globalization, and the roles of artistic practices in an increasingly complex world. Editor: I agree. It’s complex, imperfect, but endlessly thought-provoking—art that stays with you.