Trophy V (for Jasper Johns) 1962

Robert Rauschenberg made this painting, Trophy V (for Jasper Johns), with oil and found objects. It’s a messy, smeary world of greys, blacks, and whites, punctuated by a few real objects. I can only imagine what it was like for Rauschenberg in the studio, moving things around, adding and subtracting. There’s a window right there in the painting, a found object slapped onto the canvas, and then that bright orange square, a total interruption amid the monochrome. The window is like a portal, maybe, or a mirror reflecting back at us. I love how Rauschenberg’s mark-making doesn’t try to resolve itself. It feels like he’s having a conversation with Jasper Johns, using all the same tones, but then disrupting it, breaking free. Like, hey Jasper, I see you, but I'm gonna do my own thing. It's all about that back-and-forth, that's what makes art alive.