Allegory 1960

With his *Allegory*, Robert Rauschenberg mixed paint with found objects—a process as playful as it must have been surprising. I imagine Rauschenberg pacing around his studio, grabbing a swatch of wrinkled fabric here, a tube of paint there, and then throwing them together on the canvas. He’s making a painting, but also building a world, full of textures, colors, and shapes. That big, red, kind of umbrella shape draws you in, doesn't it? It’s like a stage curtain, opening up onto a space of infinite possibilities. The paint is thick in some places, thin in others, layered up to create a surface that’s both chaotic and harmonious. What I admire about Rauschenberg is his willingness to embrace chance and improvisation, which reminds me of Cy Twombly—both artists saw art making as a collaboration between intention and accident. Rauschenberg makes you realize that painting isn't about answers, it's about the questions.