Although the present touring exhibition Rauschenberg & Johns: Significant Others can now only be seen in situ in a limited capacity due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’ at the Geelong Gallery, it is still worth the trip to get a taste of a conversation that occurred between two of the 20th century’s pivotal artists.
An extensive online publication produced by the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in 2022 showcasing works from the exhibition, along with various essays, goes some way towards fleshing out more of the visual dialogue.
Designed by the NGA in 2022 and focusing on the period between 1967 and 1973, this touring exhibition draws from an extensive archive of prints donated by master printmaker at Gemini Graphic Editions Ltd, Kenneth Tyler who collaborated with the artists – reinvigorating and exploring the print medium in new and experimental ways. Over the last year and a half, the exhibition has travelled to a range of regional centres such as Alice Springs, Ipswich, Cairns, Lake Macquarie and Dubbo before finally arriving in Geelong.
Although the show’s focus is on a later time period, the impetus for this creative dialogue between Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns started over a decade earlier, when the two young artists met and formed an artistic and intimate relationship, lasting until the early 1960s. Influenced by earlier movements and artists such as the Dadaists and Marcel Duchamp, they created a new avant-garde that introduced everyday signs, objects and mixed media into their work, influencing the evolution of the Pop Art movement, which rejected the more emotional language and mark-making of Abstract Expressionism that dominated the art world at the time.
With the works now on display in the Sidney Myer space at the Geelong Gallery – although a small portion of the original show – the viewer can experience something of the artists’ shared conversation with Johns’ relief and lithographic works sitting alongside Rauschenberg’s mixed media assemblages and paper pieces.
The Critic Smiles, inspired by an earlier print, is a biting riposte to a negative review by critic Hilton Kramer, and forms part of Johns’ Lead Reliefs series,1969. Created from wax casts, like others in the series, the piece depicts a toothbrush with molar-like bristles embossed from sheet lead and tin with gold leaf. Other works in the series, such as Bread and Lightbulb, also lead relief pieces, combine mixed media such as paper and oil paint.
On the other side of the space, Rauschenberg’s Cardbird I, II and IV pieces (1971), from the series of the same name, incorporate photo offset lithography, screenprint, corrugated cardboard and tape. Using untraditional media, the artist encourages the viewer to ponder the fragments of text or notice the patterning and forms created out of the overlaid irregular pieces of cardboard.
Rauschenberg’s Publicon – Station series (1978), referencing Dadaist ‘readymades’, demands the viewer’s attention through the combination of found objects and collage elements of bright decorative surfaces, along with electrical components, reflecting his ongoing interest in and experimentation with new materials and, as with the Dadaists, challenging our notions of art and meaning.
Often used as an extension of his painting, printmaking for Johns allowed him to explore further an idea in a different medium. In contrast to Rauschenberg’s more spontaneous energy, Johns’ slower, more deliberate style was reflected in his repetition of themes. His Numerals series can be seen as an example of this. His Black Numeral series, followed by the Colour Numerals series, in which he plays with meaning through ambiguity, challenges the viewer’s perception to see beyond the literal.
The lithographic print Hinged Canvas (1971) is another example of the use of a letter referencing a human form. Here Johns depicts a section of an earlier painting in which he incorporates a distortion of a projected shadow of Duchamp’s Self-Portrait in Profile. Drawn from an original tracing of Duchamp’s profile, this work provokes questions of authorship and authenticity.
Experimentation was integral to the evolution of both artists’ works and this can be seen during their time at Gemini GEL with Kenneth Tyler. Two of Rauschenberg’s works on display from this time reflect his move from a more popular culture focus to a materials-based one. Link from the Pages and Fuses series (1974) reflects his growing interest in exploring and revelling in the medium itself with irregular-shaped pressed paper pulp pieces fused between two sheets of glass, capturing the light, beauty and individual qualities of the medium itself.
Read: Exhibition review: Contact Zone: Victoria Wareham, Metro Arts
Supported by didactic panels and text labels, this small taste of the original exhibition encapsulates the essence of a powerful dynamic between two young artists, leading to a new avant-garde that was to change the way we interpret and produce art.
Rauschenberg & Johns: Significant Others will be exhibited at Geelong Gallery until 9 February 2025.
Free entry.
