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Random Order: Robert Rauschenberg and the Neo-Avant Garde

by Branden W. Joseph
MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2003
450 pp., 103 illus. Trade, $34.95
ISBN: 0-262-10099-1.

Reviewed by Rob Harle
Australia

recluse@lis.net.au

This is an extremely well researched scholarly investigation and critical appraisal of American artist, Robert Rauschenberg. Whilst the book does not cover the complete works of Rauschenberg, it concentrates on the two decades from 1952 onwards–arguably Rauschenberg’s most important period.

Quite often there are decisive moments in an artist’s life that show the way forward, Rauschenberg’s meeting with John Cage at Black Mountain College in 1952 was one such moment. As author Branden Joseph says, "[this meeting] initiated a new paradigm of avant-garde production, in which the idea of difference was conceived not in terms of negation but rather as a positive force" (22).

The difficulty in "pigeon-holing" Rauschenberg within the theoretical paradigm of the neo-avant-garde is from my perspective, testimony to his power and uniqueness as an artist. His work did not fit neatly into theories of deconstruction nor the beginnings of postmodernism. Nor did it pander to the dictates of capitalism. It "nevertheless opposed the instrumental signification and stultifying pseudo-differentiation of commodity production" (23).

Joseph’s investigation shows clearly that neither Rauschenberg nor Cage were interested in "shock art." Both of these artists produced some extremely challenging works, but this challenge was not a result of a negative stripping away of conventional ideas and beliefs to leave nothing, but more in the Eastern Zen way, of leaving no-thing. As one astute scholar once said, "Derrida’s deconstruction leaves us with nothing, Zen’s deconstruction leaves us with nirvana." Why is this important? Because Cage was very much influenced by Zen and, consequently, through their association so was Rauschenberg.

The book starts with a rather controversial Introduction, The Art of Assemblage–this was the title of the exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1961. This chapter gives a fascinating insight into the world of modern art with its power politics; these political agendas were never far from Rauschenberg’s life. The symposium associated with this exhibition, of which Rauschenberg was a guest speaker, was no exception; he never managed to finish his introductory speech!

This is followed by five chapters: White on White, Pedestrian Colors, Mole Archaeology, Split Screens, and Moving Images. These chapters discuss in detail these works, or periods, of Rauschenberg’s production from both a practical and theoretical position. Joseph argues that Rauschenberg’s work cannot be understood from a Frankfurt School critique alone but must be approached from both a Derridian and Deleuzian perspective. This analysis is perhaps the greatest contribution the book makes to art history and certainly is the most controversial re-reading of Rauschenberg thus far attempted.

Random Order also touches on one of those perennial artists’ dilemmas, that of artists’ expectations of changing society through their art in their own time. When society does not change and their avant-garde (not art!) art works become items in the collections of galleries, many artists become disillusioned. Rauschenberg was no exception, and his art reflects this disillusionment from the seventies onwards (281).

The book has extensive and comprehensive notes, almost one hundred pages, a gold mine for students and art historians and critics alike. Also an excellent bibliography and index as one would expect from such a scholarly work.

Random Order was the title of the artist’s manifesto published in the art journal, Location, in the early sixties, "[it] attempted to provide a written equivalent to the material heterogeneity in his Combines" (1). Joseph’s Random Order, well illustrated with black and white images, attempts successfully to understand the complexity and originality of this amazing artist. As Alexander Alberro says, "This book is likely to become the standard work on the subject for some time."

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