Lot Essay
Lock is a rare example from Rauschenberg's series of silkscreen paintings. The series was begun in the fall of 1962 and completed in the spring of 1964. Prior to beginning these paintings, Rauschenberg had joined Jasper Johns in experimenting with lithography at ULAE under the direction of Tatyana Grosman. Soon afterward, Rauschenberg integrated the printing techniques he had learned from Grosman with his painting methods.
Instead of using lithography as he had done at ULAE, Rauschenberg used a silkscreen process. He selected images from mass media sources and his personal archives and then had them commercially transferred onto a photo-sensitized screen. By sqeegeing ink through the screen, Rauschenberg would apply the image directly onto the canvas. Painting became a new challenge for Rauschenberg in which he was able to turn the mechanical silkscreen process in to an entirely personal medium, mixing an expressionist handling of paint with silkscreen application of photographic images. In the spring of 1963, Rauschenberg began to integrate color into the silkscreen paintings which had initially begun with only a black and white palette.
Painted in 1964, Lock is one of only two works from the color silkscreen series executed on the intimate scale of 40 x 30 inches. According to Roni Feinstein, the location of the other painting of this scale, Stunt, is unknown (R. Feinstein, p. 167).
Lock's composition is divided into approximately three equal parts. It contains a total of four silkscreened images, two of which are the same. Its palette has been simplified into black and white, with subtle tones of gray, and the primary colors (red, yellow and blue). The carefully placed Abstract Expressionist-style brushstrokes of red, yellow and blue gently balance the composition of red, yellow and blue silkscreened images.
The iconography of Lock refers primarily to the theme of Americana (Feinstein, p.80). The image of the stop sign comes from a photograph Rauschenberg took of a signpost in his neighborhood. Rauschenberg has painted over this image in red emphasizing the letters STOP. A painted form reminiscent of the stop sign is echoed in white in the lower portion of the painting. This form has been superimposed over a blue image of a parade with a crowd of people holding American flags. The parade image is repeated in the top right section of the painting, not in blue again, but yellow. Located in the top left corner and turned on its side is a black and white image of construction workers building a highrise. Lock is a brilliantly composed example of Rauschenberg's color silkscreen painting paying homage to America.
Instead of using lithography as he had done at ULAE, Rauschenberg used a silkscreen process. He selected images from mass media sources and his personal archives and then had them commercially transferred onto a photo-sensitized screen. By sqeegeing ink through the screen, Rauschenberg would apply the image directly onto the canvas. Painting became a new challenge for Rauschenberg in which he was able to turn the mechanical silkscreen process in to an entirely personal medium, mixing an expressionist handling of paint with silkscreen application of photographic images. In the spring of 1963, Rauschenberg began to integrate color into the silkscreen paintings which had initially begun with only a black and white palette.
Painted in 1964, Lock is one of only two works from the color silkscreen series executed on the intimate scale of 40 x 30 inches. According to Roni Feinstein, the location of the other painting of this scale, Stunt, is unknown (R. Feinstein, p. 167).
Lock's composition is divided into approximately three equal parts. It contains a total of four silkscreened images, two of which are the same. Its palette has been simplified into black and white, with subtle tones of gray, and the primary colors (red, yellow and blue). The carefully placed Abstract Expressionist-style brushstrokes of red, yellow and blue gently balance the composition of red, yellow and blue silkscreened images.
The iconography of Lock refers primarily to the theme of Americana (Feinstein, p.80). The image of the stop sign comes from a photograph Rauschenberg took of a signpost in his neighborhood. Rauschenberg has painted over this image in red emphasizing the letters STOP. A painted form reminiscent of the stop sign is echoed in white in the lower portion of the painting. This form has been superimposed over a blue image of a parade with a crowd of people holding American flags. The parade image is repeated in the top right section of the painting, not in blue again, but yellow. Located in the top left corner and turned on its side is a black and white image of construction workers building a highrise. Lock is a brilliantly composed example of Rauschenberg's color silkscreen painting paying homage to America.