Robert Rauschenberg Bird Watch, 1988

Bird Watch (1988) belongs to Robert Rauschenberg’s iconic body of metal works. Undertaken between 1985 and 1995, he experimented with creating images directly on sheets of metal. He first developed the technique following a trip to a copper mine in Chile when conducting research for the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI) project, designed to break down national borders through artmaking.

The artist collected a repertoire of images which he applied to flat copper sheets using a silkscreen printing technique. Many of these images, including the crane and flower depicted prominently on the copper panels of Bird Watch, were drawn from the black-and-white photographs he took while in Chile.

Reflecting on his acquisition of diverse materials, techniques and images during this period of cultural exchange, Rauschenberg asserted his belief that ‘all material has its own history built into it. [...] An artist manufactures his own material out of his own existence.’ In 1991, the work was exhibited in Robert Rauschenberg 1974–1991: Animals and Other Themes at the City Gallery of Contemporary Art, Raleigh, NC.