February 3 – May 20, 2012
This exhibition helps place Robert Rauschenberg's art in the context of its time. It asks: "Where does the artist fit in the history of twentieth-century American art?" Rauschenberg came of age as an artist during the late 1940s and 1950s when painters placed a high premium on the personal and spontaneous gesture of the brush. The resulting art as it developed in New York City was known as Abstract Expressionism, the international triumph of which marked the ascendancy of American art to the forefront of modern art. The personal gesture of brushed marks and free line defines an important aspect of Rauschenberg's image making, most especially as it is combined with photographic imagery. Spontaneous gesture also carries with it a sense of chance and accident that was crucial to Rauschenberg. In his dance performances in collaboration with Merce Cunningham and John Cage and in his improvised Happenings, chance elements help generate the work of art. Chance and accident as an artistic strategy have their origins in Dada and Surrealism at the beginning of the twentieth century. The objet trouvé or found object, especially as utilized by Marcel Duchamp, was also important to Rauschenberg's art. The artist often combined actual everyday objects with other media–photography, painting, etc. In his use of personal gesture, chance, accident, and the found object, Rauschenberg expands upon precedents set by other artists. In Rauschenberg's incorporation and celebration of the commonplace and popular culture, he parallels the early art of Jasper Johns and anticipates in the late 1950s and early 1960s the advent of Pop art.

February 3 – May 20, 2012
Rauschenberg at Gemini, on loan from the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena California, surveys the work that the artist produced at Gemini G.E.L. the world-famous publishing workshop of prints and multiples in Los Angeles, California. Rauschenberg's contributions to the history of the modern print is one of his great achievements. No other artist has ever pushed the boundaries of what “printmaking” could be as much as Rauschenberg. During his printmaking career, which began in earnest in early 1960s and continued into the early twenty-first century, Rauschenberg made prints continuously at a number of workshops, of which Gemini G.E.L. was one of the most important. Over a period of thirty-years, Rauschenberg, in active collaborations with Gemini’s printers, produced more than 250 editioned works of art, transforming what a “print” was, not only in scale, but also in how it could take shape in small-editioned sculptures known as “multiples;” how it could incorporate unconventional materials such as textiles and light; and how the viewer could interact with the resulting work of art. Many of Rauschenberg’s most famous prints, print series, and multiples are included in this exhibition, for example, the monumental lithographs from the Stoned Moon Series that document the American space program leading to the Apollo 11 mission and which reveal the artist’s deep fascination with technology and the promise of human ingenuity. Several of Rauschenberg’s series were inspired by his travels in connection with the celebrated Rauschenberg Overseas Cultural Interchange (ROCI) that the artist initiated in the mid-1980s. These works, including the Tibetan Keys and Locks, Samarkand Stitches, and Marrakech series, demonstrate the artist’s commitment to multiculturalism and international cooperation. In addition to themes of technology and cultural diversity, Rauschenberg addressed ecological issues, expressing his environmental concerns, for example, in the limited edition lithograph and poster that announced the first Earth Day in 1970.

March 3 – May 20, 2012 June 3, 2012
Consisting of 52 large-scale panels, Synapsis Shuffle is a monumental participatory work that that incorporates chance and performance, hallmarks of Rauschenberg’s art. Rauschenberg’s activities in dance, performance, prints, and in painting and sculpture were often characterized by a high degree of collaboration–with dancers, printers, fabricators, and with viewer of his works who were often physically drawn into them. Each of the 52 panels in Synapsis Shuffle is a collage of images taken from photographs the artist took during his global travels—snapshots of street life, images taken from media and advertising, and lyrical scenes of nature. The title of the work and the number of paintings refer to a deck of cards, a clever signal of the work’s installation method: each time the panels of Synapsis Shuffle are presented, they are meant to be “shuffled” by a different person or group from the community–in displays of no more than seven and no fewer than three paintings. Members from Grand Rapids’ own community will be asked to step forward to “deal out a hand” of paintings of their own choosing.

Synapsis Shuffle was organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Grand Rapids Presenting Sponsor: Daniel and Pamella DeVos Foundation.

GRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM "SHUFFLERS" PARTICIPATED IN RAUSCHENBERG'S ART GAME HELD ON FEBRUARY 29

The Shufflers comprised a broad coalition among the creative and innovative community of West Michigan. The Grand Rapids Art Museum's mission includes building strong partnerships and collaborations, in line with the forward-looking idea of the 21st century Museum as a community convener and catalyst for creative thinking. The Shufflers included representatives from arts organizations as well as innovative leaders in technology, education, medical research, and other creative thinkers.

Programming

• Feb 04 Tour: Docent-led tour of exhibition
• Feb 11 Tour: Docent-led tour of exhibition
• Feb 18 Film: Robert Rauschenberg Retrospective (1979)
• Feb 25 Lecture: Kirsten Strom, 'Robert Rauschenberg: Herald of Postmodernism'


• Mar 03 Gallery Talk: Dana Friis-Hansen, Director and CEO
• Mar 10 Tour: Docent-led tour of exhibition
• Mar 17 Film: Fully Awake: Black Mountain College (2007)
• Mar 24 Lecture: Henry Lutthikhuizen, 'Mindful Ramblings: The Art of Robert Rauschenberg'
• Mar 31 Film: Who Gets to Call It Art? (2006)


• Apr 07 Film: Fully Awake: Black Mountain College (2007)
• Apr 14 Tour: Docent-led tour of the exhibition
• Apr 21 Lecture: Thomas Post, 'Rauchenberg: Paintings, Parallels & Re-presentations'
• Apr 28 Film: Who Gets to Call it Art? (2006)


• May 05 Gallery Talk with Julie Burgess, Curator of Rauschenberg in Context
• May 12 Tour: Docent-led tour of the exhibition
• May 19 Tour: Docent-led tour of the exhibition