Robert Rauschenberg, 'Botanical Vaudaville' Inverleith House, Edinburgh

Robert Rauschenberg 'Eco-Echo IV', 1992-3 (detail)
courtesy Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh/Gagosian Gallery.

Robert Rauschenberg is such an accessible and versatile artist, always surprising you with his juxtapositions of materials and ideas, questioning your thinking and approach to art and life. This show at Inverleith House, Edinburgh, is yet another example of quality curating in Scotland, especially after their Joan Mitchell exhibition. How great it would be to see such a show 'South of the Border' especially in London, can't believe it's the first show of his in the UK for 30 years, ho hum...Part of the press release for the show goes like this:  

'The American artist Jasper Johns (b.1935) once said of Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) that he had invented more than any artist since Picasso. Rauschenberg has altered the cultural landscape and continues to exert a profound influence on contemporary artists. Robert Rauschenberg 'Botanical Vaudeville' is the first museum exhibition devoted to the artist to take place in the UK in thirty years – and it features thirty seven works made between 1982 and 1998.

Robert Rauschenberg 'Tropical Mill Glut' 1989.
 courtesy Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh/Gagosian Gallery

During this time, Rauschenberg was exploring the reflective, textural, sculptural and thematic effects of metal, glass and other reflective surfaces in several series of works. All are represented here, and the paintings and sculptures on display vary from the highly polished glamorous metallic works from the 'Shiner' and 'Borealis' series that celebrate energy and motion, to the Kabal American 'Zephyr' and 'Gluts' series which represent Rauschenberg’s; fascination with the discarded object.  He once stated: 'I think painting is more like the real world when it is made out of the real world. These works in particular benefit from being shown in natural light which is such a feature of exhibitions at Inverleith House, revealing their true colour - enhanced by multiple reflections of the viewer and garden which become part of the work.''

There are none of the big works like 'Monogram' (see below) or 'Bed' and the 'Combines', you have to go to Moma for them, however this looks like a an interesting exhibition because they are small, intimate and poetic works, in the way only Rauschenberg can make detritus look poetic..    Click below for that great interview where he discusses buying the goat for the 'Monogram' piece at the Guggenheim show back in the 1990's.

Robert Rauschenberg interview about 'Monogram' Guggenheim retrospective, 1990's

Picasso, Miro, Dali-Angry Young Men: The Birth of Modernity

This is a fascinating exhibition on the relationships between the Picasso, Dali and Miro, currently exhibited at the Foundation Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy until 17th July. This exhibition documents the influences each artist had on each other, the wider painting scene in Spain, and in turn, the legacy they left on the culture of the early Twentieth Century and the development of modernism. What is also interesting about this exhibition is how the strong political convictions are explored especially with regard to the early Picasso and Miro pieces, many not exhibited before. there is also some strong abstract, semi-abstract works by both artists. There is a walk through each room here. The show is curated by Eugenio Carmona, Christoph Vitali.

Pablo Picasso 'Harlequin and his Girlfriend' 1901, Pushkin Museum

'The exhibition is dedicated to the early work of Picasso, Miró and Dalí, which played a decisive role in the beginning of modern art in Spain. The exhibition concentrates on Picasso's pre-cubist period 1900 - 1905, whilst Juan Miró's works of 1915-1920 are presented along with Salvador Dali's from 1920-1925, both artists painting in the period before the discovery of surrealism. Each artist will be represented by 25 - 30 masterpieces selected to show aspects of the three artists in their earliest periods, works that are rarely shown in mainstream catalogues and exhibitions. For instance, Picasso's early work was often coloured by his strong political convictions.

Joan Miro 'Poem Painting' c.1925

In Madrid in 1901, Picasso and his anarchist friend Francisco de Asís Soler founded the magazine Arte Joven (Young Art), which published five issues. Picasso illustrated the journal, mostly contributing grim cartoons depicting and sympathizing with the state of the poor. Miró too understood art as political, and Miró's oft-quoted assassination of painting is derived from a dislike of bourgeois art of any kind, especially when used as a way to promote cultural identity among the wealthy. Specifically, Miró saw Cubism in this way, and he is quoted as saying I will break their guitars, referring to Picasso and Braque's early Cubist paintings. Much younger than Picasso and Miró, Dalí was expelled from the Academia in 1926 shortly before his final exams when he stated that no one on the faculty was competent enough to examine him. His mastery of painting skills is well documented in his early works, such as the flawlessly realistic Girl at the window, which was painted in 1926. That same year he made his first visit to Paris where he met with Pablo Picasso, whom young Dalí revered - Picasso had already heard favourable things about Dalí from Joan Miró.'