Pilot (Jammer) 1975

Robert Rauschenberg made this "Pilot (Jammer)" using fabric, rope, and wood. It's like he's playing with simple gestures here – hanging, draping, leaning – using a straightforward palette of green, yellow and white. I find myself thinking a lot about the material qualities. The way the dyed fabric hangs feels so casual and loose, almost like a found object. The rope and the pole suggest a sense of movement. It’s very sculptural. If you look at the way the yellow and green fabric drapes, you can almost feel the weight of the material. It makes me want to reach out and touch it. There's something almost Fluxus-like about the gesture of the piece. I'm reminded of the simplicity of a work like John Cage’s 4'33" – a gesture, an offering, a prompt for our own reflection. Rauschenberg is always in conversation with Duchamp and the readymade, using art as a way to suggest rather than define.