Untitled 1963

This untitled painting at the Broad was made by Robert Rauschenberg. Look at the red, white, and blue and all the overlaid images that float across the surface. You can sense Rauschenberg shifting, adding, and subtracting. He was a real process guy, like me! I can imagine him in his studio, picking up silkscreens and squeegees. What was it like to pull that image of Kennedy and that crazy weather dial? The layered images give the impression of a world saturated with information. It’s almost like Rauschenberg wants to know: can we make sense of it all? That smear of white paint in the corner is really speaking to me. It's like he had to mess it up at the end. It reminds me that painting is never really finished. It’s more like a record of encounters between the artist and the work. Rauschenberg was so inspiring to other artists, and he continues to provoke and inspire me.