Combining art and life Combining art and life (December 31, 2004)

Rauschenberg exhibit at Cal State Hayward for three more weeks

Artist Robert Rauschenberg, born in 1925, changed the direction of art with his integrative thinking and socially conscious works.

His art has been at Cal State Hayward since October and the exhibit continues through Jan. 22, focusing on posters he made for projects that benefit the public.

"It is a special privilege to present an overview of this aspect of Rauschenberg's work for the first time," said Gallery Director Lanier Graham. "These images are vibrant evidence of how an artist can help improve the world in which we all live."

Included are projects that support Artists Rights, Earth Day, the United Nations, and campaigns against Apartheid, Nuclear Armament, Overpopulation and War. The exhibit also has his famous Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI) project in which he joined with other artists around the world during the 1980s and early '90s to promote art in some repressive societies. In the process, he opened the door for contemporary art in Russia, China and Tibet, where it had been prohibited for years.

"Thanks to Rauschenberg, and his curator David White, we have been able to borrow these posters from the artist's own collection," said Graham. "In a postmodern world short on heroes, people - especially younger artists - are thirsty for role models who offer more than a self-centered image of what artists can do in the world."

Before Rauschenberg, people often separated art from everyday life and social issues but he made them rethink that assumption. He developed innovative collage techniques to make some of the most striking images of our time - images that connect us dynamically with life, death and hope.

He went on to pioneer explorations in fields as diverse as printmaking, poster-making, photography, theater design, performance art, electronic art and radical forms of collaborative art. Along the way, he reminded the art world of the beauty that can be seen in ordinary realities, including objects and images usually discarded in a highly materialistic society where many see only what they are told to see.

Rauschenberg saw the connection between himself and others and the greater world, between individuals and humanity. He is known for his statements: "...artists must be engaged in determining the fate of the earth," and "...now it's up to the artists to wage peace."

He also appeared with Martin Luther King, Jr., and made fundraising prints for President Carter. He set up the foundation Change Inc. for destitute artists in 1970 and a house with art studios in Florida in 1971, where he lives on Captiva Island. -Dolores Fox Ciardelli
Art with a conscience

What: Art Exhibit: Robert Rauschenberg, Artist-Citizen: Posters for a Better World Who: California State University Hayward Art Gallery Where: Arts & Entertainment Building, ground floor; 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd., Hayward When: Oct. 28 through Jan. 22 Gallery Hours: noon- 3 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday; closed Dec. 15-Jan. 3 Gallery: (510) 885-3299 or www.csuhayward.edu/artgallery

E-mail a friend a link to this story.