Trophy V (for Jasper Johns) 1962

This is Robert Rauschenberg’s, Trophy V (for Jasper Johns). It’s hard to say when it was made, or with what, exactly, but Rauschenberg’s art is all about ‘the process of.’ Look at the surface, all greyed-out and moody! I love how he’s pasted that whole window frame onto the canvas, blurring the lines between painting and sculpture. The paint is thick, but in some areas he thins it out with solvent, so it drips and bleeds, and then he adds these little pops of color like that square of salmon in the middle. Notice how the layers of paint build up a kind of history on the canvas. It’s like Rauschenberg is saying, “Here’s all the stuff I’ve been thinking about, all the things I’ve been looking at.” Rauschenberg’s work, like the work of his friend, Jasper Johns, reminds us that art is an ongoing conversation, a way of seeing and experiencing the world that’s always changing, always evolving. There are no fixed meanings here, just a constant play of ideas.