Gear (Jammer) 1976

Robert Rauschenberg made this piece, called "Gear (Jammer)", using fabric. It's like a painting, but with cloth! The horizontal stripes create a rhythm that's both calming and a little off-kilter. Check out how the colors shift and change as they move across the surface. The blues, reds, and beiges have a worn feeling to them. It’s a process of layering, combining, and chance that makes the piece so engaging, like visual jazz. Look at how the fabric is hung. It's almost casual, like a discarded something. It’s this directness, this willingness to embrace the everyday, that makes Rauschenberg's work so interesting. Rauschenberg reminds me a little of what Cy Twombly was up to around the same time, this sense of the poetic fragment. It all feels like a kind of ongoing conversation about what art can be!