Rauschenberg - part II
Trying to decide which prints to buy in the face of rising prices, dealers have begun to identify elements that are considered keys to the artist’s iconography.
One dealer in Wisconsin believes that the artist’s Combines (early paintings with 3-dimensional collage elements) are important sign posts in the work. He reports: “When my wife and I visited the Metropolitan Museum last year to see Rauschenberg¹s retrospective of early works, we both agreed that Rauschenberg’s use of collage to create a kind of visual poetry is what makes him a great innovator.” He recently bought and then quickly sold a work entitled “Most distant visible part of the sea / Umbrellas”, 1983 that was an offset lithograph with collage, embossing and pencil. Hamilton-Selway is offering a similar work
entitled, “Yellow Body”, 1971 a silkscreen that was published by Styria Studio, considered one of the finest silkscreen ateliers of the period (they have since closed). One gallery owner I spoke to believes that the artist’s multiples are hidden treasures: “I have recently purchased a work from the “Publicon” series done at Gemini in 1979. These works are very complicated. For example, “Publicon Station III” is enamel on wood construction, collaged with laminated silk, cotton, steel, mirrors and enamel on polished aluminum. It was an edition of 30 and measures 171 inches high by 79 1/2 inches wide and 38 inches in diameter.”
Completing the catalogue raisonne could really help lift the market. Bill Goldston who is one of the executors of the Rauschenberg estate and his atelier ULAE is organizing the effort. Axsom believes that when completed, there will be four volumes, each with approximately 250 works. The first volume, that will cover the years 1948 through 1972 is due out in the near future, but the final date has not been set yet. In the meantime, Gemini G.E.L. has frozen all sales of their editions until the estate is settled. That could take some time, and it is almost certain that there will be substantial increases in prices when Gemini reopens the inventory. Happily, Hamilton-Selway Fine Art has quite a few works in inventory, at least for now.
In September, 2009, NASA will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon shot. Axsom is organizing a concurrent exhibit of the 34 “Stoned Moon” lithographs created at Gemini G.E.L in 1969-1970 that will be seen at the Madison Center for Contemporary Art in Wisconsin (the show will travel). The series was inspired by Rauschenberg’s invitation by NASA to Cape Canaveral to witness the launch of the rocket that would land a man on the moon. According to Axsom, the title “Stoned Moon” is a very Rauschenbergian triple pun: lithographic stone, moon rocks and, ahem, stoned on weed. Axsom recalled that last year, when he asked Rauschenberg for permission to mount the exhibit, the artist’s curator and archivist, David White faxed Rauschenberg’s response with the words: “He’s ready for lift off when you are.” One of the reasons Rauschenberg remained a leading artist during his long life is that he was always far ahead of the curve, waiting for the rest of us to reach him.
