Year 10 Visual Arts students have been exploring silk screen printing and looking at what an artist’s practice is. The class have explored the artist Robert Rauschenberg and looked at the ways he makes his artworks and what he makes his artworks from and about. With extensive research on Rauschenberg, students have created poems to summarise his artistic practice.
Ode to Rauschenberg
Colours of monochrome black and white,
With splashes of colour that seem to bite.
From Canyon to Skyway,
Photem to Minutiae.
He was certainly inventive,
and thoughtfully creative.
The father of combine,
Using different shapes and lines.
Using layers of paper and painting,
Collaging and object setting.
His original abstract practicing,
Became the art of combining.
After combine came transfer silkscreen,
Art of which seemed to gleam.
Under the spotlight of admiration,
His own kind of documentation.
Important events in history, they showed
Artworks made in his humble abode.
From cans of mystery red,
To creating an artwork, he called “Bed”.
Using objects unwanted and discarded,
He gave them new life well regarded.
These words of praise are true,
Robert Rauschenberg, an homage to you.
Robert Rauschenberg, the Texan innovator uses logic and manipulation to create magnificent challenging artworks for his audience,
One face of pop art and impressionism of the time,
Defies the line of people believe art should be with his abstract, modern prints and creations,
American artist creating innovative, random works using his multiple boggling techniques,
His works are labelled as hybrids as he paints and pictures his final pieces,
Manipulates the laws and thoughts of his viewers is what makes Robert an inspirational artist,
Some may believe that his work is plain or unconventional, but if you use logical eyes you can see his purpose clearer,
He began in Port Arthur and ended up a pioneering inspiration,
Today we use his innovation to create silk screens and prints just like his,
Somewhat randomness of the works is what we want to replicate,
Simple works boxed in by simple frames, yet so challenging and intriguing,
Different brush strokes, photographs, images, installation art, sculptures and ideas,
Replication and educated placements of his materials make his practice combinational masterpieces,
Use of installation along with combination is what forms the creative meaning each of his special creations,
Imaging the different pieces together of sculptures and photographs is part of the makings for his works,
Hard yet special time is a factor of what led to influencing the images and meanings you see behind his paintings or prints,
Inviting yet challenging, creating yet replicating,
Daring nature to try to understand his motives,
Exactly how his artworks are so intriguing and even the thought process connected to the finalisation of the works,
Famous graphic designs of the decade enlightening its viewers and forming a space of mental practice,
Multiple steps and techniques,
Forging laws and printing his images, changing lines and new techniques that combine together to form impressive displays,
Misleading yet guiding thoughts, post-modern and structural works,
How would you compare Roberts random yet special artworks to any other’s artworks?
Swish, splash, flash
The painter is repurposing the patriotic past.
Engrave, shave, pave
The printmaker is painting the retro politics.
Picture, mixture, stricture
The photographer is stencilling the distorted newspaper.
Trio, duo, uno
The collector is printing out the grayscale perspective.
Inspire, wire, admire
The innovator is documenting the textural world.
Character, editor, competitor
The dramatist is filtering the mundane history.
Model, marble, metal
The sculptor is selling the chaotic photems.
Melody, complexity, remedy
The musician is playing with the delicate strings of life.
Understand, expand, command
The communicator is archiving the robust state of mind.
Smart, chart, part
The genius is partaking the obstacles of endorphins.
Laugh, draff, fluff
The jokester is dreaming the furniture of elements.
Expression, depression, profession
The artist is interrogating the future of Americans.
The combine unique,
No artist ever ventured.
A painter and a printer,
But also an inventor.
Abstract and chaotic
With paint, wood and fabric;
Stuffed goat with a tire;
He amazed and inspired.
Eclectic and strange,
His works varied in range
From monochromatic and flat
To three-dimensional and all that.
American history,
A man on the moon,
The death of ‘King Jr,
Too soon, too soon.
Robert’s philosophy
Was a kind of oddity:
‘There is no reason not to consider
The world as one gigantic painting.’
Even though the famed artist
Is no longer with us
His legacy lives on
In red paint and sculptures
He’s a painter
He’s a creator
He’s a designer
He’s a complier
His spontaneous scraps
collected off the streets,
Create multi-million artworks
that people travel to see.
He repurposes and recycles
And it may take quite a while,
But the elaborate end result
Will always make him smile.
Not only does he collage
But he also combines
And uses texture
To create something quite fine.
His screen print 1970
Symbolises a particular point in time
Where astronauts landed on the moon
And civil rights were not all fine.
He’s a photographer
He’s a sculpture
He’s a printmaker
He’s an innovator
But most of all,
He’s an artist.
Bob really loved to dance
But before he even got the chance
He went away from home to start
A journey that would teach him art
His mother soon inspired him
Not to throw stuff in the bin
Bottles, newspapers, tyres and sheets
Were discarded things he found on streets
‘Didn’t know who threw them out
And soon became very devout
To inventing, reusing and transforming these things
Into combines, sculptures and even paintings
His art was unique, never, before seen
He’d utilise things like a usual silk screen
And print on materials from photos to wood
Creating an artform earth misunderstood
Some said it was crazy, some say its divine
$89mil and I’ll take it, it’s mine
The textures and depth, extremely attractive
Various shapes and sizes, some tiny, some massive
His photos and collages earned him fame
His combines, the reason we learn his name
Inventive recycler with unique ideas
Robert Rauschenberg, appreciated for years
Through textures, combining and American
history, Robert’s artworks are a mystery.
He creates his thoughts and ideas
unique and distorted without a care,
his art is being recognised everywhere.
His art is spontaneous and inventive,
Its even sometimes made with recycled
Materials he found on the side of the street
Apart from just painting he creates chaotic
Looking sculptures, often made with many
Layers of different materials.
In his artwork ‘Canyon’ made in 1959
We can tell he has a creative mind.
In this artwork we can see newspapers,
A 3D eagle, dripped paint, a pillow hanging
On a rope off the canvas, a baby picture
And lots of cardboard.
Rauschenberg is an innovator,
He has his own designs
Through his artworks, he tells a story,
He opens the viewers’ mind
Collector, designer and print maker
First known for paintings ‘combined’
His art portrays his thoughts and ideas
like a moment in time, one leap for mankind
He was inspired by his mother
She made his clothing out of scraps
And although he didn’t appreciate it
It allowed his mind to adapt
He believed the world was a painting
And recycled the objects he found
Then created his own unique style
There is nothing like it around
Imagine a sculpture using a goat’s head
A twenty-two-foot painting that never seems to end
Even just some object filled boxes
He invents, doesn’t follow the trends
His chaotic pieces evoke the imagination
By transferring he transforms our mind
And his assemblage creates anticipation
Rauschenberg is a mastermind
Robert Rauschenberg a talented artist
In 1951 that’s when he started
His artwork was the smartest
He was known as an abstract artist
It all began with White Paintings
It was described as fascinating
He was very good at creating
Although there were more artworks awaiting
In 1955 Monogram was created
A combination of sculpture and painting was demonstrated
It was nicely decorated
His childhood was illustrated
In 1964 Skyway was introduced
The silkscreen technique was used
Pictures from magazines were diffused
the world was amused
Then came along Sky Garden
It was an artwork where screen printing was starred in
Bed and Sky Garden are almost akin
his creativity was within
Finally came along Signs
Which illustrated American history
A collage of many great people
As it was liked by many townspeople
Rauschenberg, creator of idiosyncratic
With paintings ordered unsystematic
Rauschenberg, believer for naturalistic
Combing art to what we call ‘realistic’
Splashing paint, ripping paper
Connecting art with nature
Hidden secrets and hidden messages
Finding a collage of fatuous images
Starting from shredded newspaper and comics
From vast eras, leaving us befuddled about the topics
Combinations of objects related to America’s culture
But are his artworks really paintings or sculpture?
Diverse styles and techniques, capturing unfathomable emotions
Reinvigorating new ways of painting with corrosions
Nature, life, and art into one subject
Expressing how freedom intersect
Using everyday recognizable objects
To give surrealistic effects
Some dull, some colorful
Making us marvel
Blank inexplicable canvases with stochastic segments
To symbols and signs of historical events
Wiping, sticking, connecting, combining
Rauschenberg is not just vexing but imagining
Combining photography, sculpting, printing and painting,
Robert Rauschenberg was ahead of his time.
Never giving up and never complaining,
As an artist he made just over a dime.
Documenting the American culture
By reusing and recycling.
The works created by this sculptor,
Were distorted and thought-provoking
Rauschenberg’s unique imagination.
His inventive and textural style
Created patriotic artworks about his nation.
Like JFK being shot from a mile
His artwork entitled 1970
Includes space, war and tragedy.
The death of Joplin and Kennedy
And the Vietnam war that killed many
Minutiae is a combine artwork
With lots of visual textures like fabrics and wood.
There’s layering and draping of patchwork.
There’s bright colours and details that are not understood
Robert Rauschenberg was an innovator.
This spontaneous American creator
Designed many of his artworks by being a collector
I wish he knew his artworks were now being used by an educator
Robert Rauschenberg,
An artist who mixed styles,
taking a look at his work is worth while
He invented many techniques
that were unique
no one had ever seen
His work was abstract
intentions of impact
on the people
Taking images and creating something new
Collages, prints, shapes
blew art culture away
Colours, patterns, shading
he was smart in the way he used them
He put his heart into art
loved to draw from a young age
His art expressed culture, eras of time and people,
He even made sculptures
He made his work by taking images and adding to them
enhancing them into something new.
Ever thought of a multitalented artist, whose imagination changed the world?
One was Robert Rauschenberg, with his vast practice and thought-provoking work.
Most famous for his prints, he used his hands and pictures to tell a story,
Collecting inspiration from streets and past historical glory.
To create something new, like the innovator he was,
Merged the realms of kitsch and fine art – creating a buzz.
Sculpting and painting, creating with ease,
He blended them together, making ‘Minutiae,’ calling it a ‘combine’ as he pleased.
Believing in the possibilities of the material and the talent he bestowed,
Arranged the images in his collages in a way that it showed –
The events of American history, like in his artwork ‘Signs,’
Memories from his life and photos he took himself, all black and white.
Drawing ideas from the media and artmaking with precision,
He showed everyone his new and contemporary, unique artistic vision
Merging handmade strokes and soaking printed images in solvents like water or turpentine,
Transferred it with hatch-marks using nibs of a pen - creating ‘transfer drawings’ so refined.
The incorporation of politics in his art, was always to be seen,
Like in his transfers ‘Cup’ and ‘Cage’, his ideas were present in between.
Emerged on the art scene in 1962 and stayed for much more than a decade,
Working most of his life, his passions did not fade,
His determination for dancing and dramatism, dyslexia - he left in the dark,
To pursue what he loved and treasured the most, his art.
After his time, modern and pop art were replayed but never the same,
Like Robert Rauschenberg said – “Painting relates to both art and life. Neither can be made.”