Robert Rauschenberg 1983

Editor: Here we have Robert Mapplethorpe's photographic portrait of Robert Rauschenberg. The pinstripes of his overalls are really striking. What can you tell me about this portrait? Curator: Note how Mapplethorpe, celebrated for challenging boundaries, here frames Rauschenberg, an artist known for appropriating materials, in working clothes. This choice evokes notions of labor and the artistic process itself. Editor: So it's not just *who* is photographed, but how their process informs the photograph. Curator: Precisely. The interplay between their practices, captured through light, shadow, and, especially, the carefully selected clothing, speaks to the deconstruction of artistic creation itself. Editor: I never thought about the clothing as a material statement before. Curator: Considering clothing as material helps us to view the artist’s hand and the process of artmaking in a new light.