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Lot Essay
"In 1986 Rauschenberg began to screenprint his photographs on large panels of stainless steel or mirror-polished or anodized aluminum, combining them with various additional objects. These works all have lustrous, sparkling or reflective surfaces. Appropriately, Rauschenberg called them Shiners. [Rauschenberg said] 'With the Shiners I think my preoccupation is the contrast between the surface absorbing its entire environment by light in reflections, like with mirrors (I've always been obsessed by that), because I don't want the piece to stop on the wall. And it has to somehow document what's going on in the room and be flexible enough to respond'" (R. Rauschenberg quoted in Robert Rauschenberg, exh. cat., Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, 1994, p. 108).
Limb-Lock is a majestic example from this series. The grand scale of the metal surface absorbs and reflects its entire environment like the mirrors that interest Rauschenberg. The large bursts of bright colors create balanced areas of opacity to the composition. Moreover, they add a distinct element of the artist's hand to juxtapose the ready-made industrial surface of the metal. Rauschenberg's own photos are silkscreened onto the surface as a third dynamic element of the composition; they create pattern and content for the viewer to reflect upon. "[Rauschenberg] is concerned with the visualization of space, of motion, of life, of incessant change in an unchangeable object. [He said] I like my artwork to absorb generously anything that's going on around it. Since I got involved with working with the reflective metals, that's one of the things I've enjoyed'" (Ibid., p. 109).
Limb-Lock is a majestic example from this series. The grand scale of the metal surface absorbs and reflects its entire environment like the mirrors that interest Rauschenberg. The large bursts of bright colors create balanced areas of opacity to the composition. Moreover, they add a distinct element of the artist's hand to juxtapose the ready-made industrial surface of the metal. Rauschenberg's own photos are silkscreened onto the surface as a third dynamic element of the composition; they create pattern and content for the viewer to reflect upon. "[Rauschenberg] is concerned with the visualization of space, of motion, of life, of incessant change in an unchangeable object. [He said] I like my artwork to absorb generously anything that's going on around it. Since I got involved with working with the reflective metals, that's one of the things I've enjoyed'" (Ibid., p. 109).