The Rauschenberg Visual Autobiography Triptych Print
- photolithograph on paper
- 66.125 x 48.75 in
- Robert Rauschenberg
Rauschenberg embraced the visual culture and techniques of advertising, including the use of large-scale printing equipment. In 1967 he produced "Booster." At 72 x 36 inches, it was one of the largest prints created to date by hand lithography. This successful collaboration with master printers at Gemini G.E.L. resulted in his remark about the process:
"What's really nice about printmaking is working with other people. You get a constant exchange that's absolutely limitless."
"Autobiography," an ambitious review of the artist's life up to 1967 and printed on a commercial billboard press, refers not only to his personal life, but also to earlier visual works and performances. For example, the first panel includes a reprise of the main image from "Booster," in which a full-body X-ray of the artist becomes a multi-stage rocket that he called a "self-portrait of inner-man." The central panel features autobiographical text spiraling around a photograph of the artist as a child in a boat with his parents. The third panel refers to the artist's first choreographic effort, the 1963 dance performance "Pelican" (Rauschenberg himself is shown roller-skating).
- Edition: Edition of 2,000 (unnumbered)
- Created: 1968
- Current Location: MOA HEADQUARTERS - 6501 S Fiddlers Green Cir Greenwood Village, CO 80111 (google map)