Looking At Art

Robert Rauschenberg's work HONK presents us with a challenge of discernment. The artist asks us to discover images floating on a sheet of copper. The traditional composition of a diptych gives us two geese on the left and a cropped street scene on the right. With a combination of tarnishes patinating the shiny metal surface, the flatness of the added inks of red, green and white layer and screen our experience of the sources of light.

Rauschenberg's use of the negative image from a photograph he has taken makes us reverse the image to orient our perception. At once we can see the deep recession into the interior of the building on the right and appreciate the complex vocabulary of metal in grates, railings, signs and vehicles. Rauschenberg loads the composition with texture, wit and surprises. Noise permeates our sense of hearing as we imagine the honk of the geese, the bells of the trolley and perhaps the chime of the street light changing. In this work of art, we see why Rauschenberg is recognized the world over for his experimentation and innovation in reflecting the world and our lives in new ways.

Robert Rauschenberg through August at Eckert Fine Art, 390 12th Ave. S., Naples, 261-1100.

-Mark Ormond

Mark Ormond is a Southwest Florida writer, art historian and art consultant.