Rauschenberg and Johns: Significant Others

Rauschenberg and Johns: Significant Others will introduce the work of two of the 20th century’s most pivotal artists to Australian communities. The exhibition examines the legacy of Rauschenberg and Johns’ early creative exchanges and their printmaking practices. The practices of both Rauschenberg and Johns rebelled from the artist-centric Abstract Expressionist movement to develop a focus on the role of the audience in making meaning. By positioning the audience as paramount to understanding a work of art, this exhibition allows us to explore shared meanings, private languages, and public discourse.

In the early 1950s, at the height of the Abstract Expressionist movement, a new avant-garde began to emerge from a relationship between two young artists. From their run-down New York studios, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns began a private creative dialogue that introduced everyday signs, objects, and media into their work, collapsing the distinction between art and life. While their relationship would end after seven years, their art would continue to radiate the new ideas of their creative exchange.

This exhibition will draw upon the National Gallery’s Kenneth Tyler Collection of prints with works by both artists produced between 1967 and 1973, and holdings of key works by their predecessors and contemporaries.

Curator: David Greenhalgh, Kenneth E Tyler Assistant Curator, Prints and Drawings.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Image: Jasper Johns, Colour numeral series 1969, colour lithograph, 1973.884.8

Touring from the National Gallery of Australia.