Light House Wall (Runt) 2007

Robert Rauschenberg, he put this collage together, sometime - well who knows when, time is a construct - but it’s called Light House Wall (Runt). It’s a jumble of images, like the way our brains work. Photos on canvas - that’s his kind of move. Look how he layers different realities - cars, murals, people at a doorway and a suitcase. It's all so casual, but there’s something very considered about the surface. The way he leaves the edges of the photos raw, makes you think about the physicality of it. And that off-white background? It’s not trying to be anything other than what it is. Like a blank canvas daring you to make sense of the chaos. Rauschenberg was always playing with what art could be. Like his combines, he used everyday stuff, trash even - and turned it into something new. It's like he's telling us that art is all around, and it's up to us to see it.