Robert Rauschenberg Wall Rites (Salvage), 1984

Wall Rites (1984) is part of Robert Rauschenberg’s (1925–2008) Salvages of 1983–85, a key series that marked the artist’s final engagement with the canvas. The series began with ‘salvaged’ drop cloths that he used when silkscreening costumes for Trisha Brown Dance Company’s Set and Reset (1983). In Rauschenberg’s own words: ‘While I was in the process of
silk-screening the fabric for the costumes, – my photos of architectural details from streets in New York City – we had to put something under the sheer fabric to catch the excess ink. The chance compositions that were created from the process suggested to me that we should put canvas there. We did; I liked the results. It was rich raw material. I let it develop into what is being recognized as the most recent change in my work.’

Rauschenberg’s juxtaposition of silkscreened imagery drawn from his own photographs with exuberant gestural marks created a compellingly textured, palimpsestic work. The artist poured paint directly onto the canvas, producing inky pools replete with entrancing swirling patterns, as well as splatters and flickers that sprawl across the picture plane. These expressive gestures formally interact with an array of silkscreened elements, such as Rauschenberg’s photograph of a Tobagonian vitrine displaying kitsch religious illustrations of Jesus and Hindu deities for ‘$ 18.00 each’. The title alludes to this desacralised presentation of pious pictures: Rauschenberg notably silkscreened the image twice, irreverently turning one of them on its side. The artist also printed an image of a palm frond – a sacred symbol in both Christian and Hindu tradition – atop his blood-red brushwork, as well as a fine art photograph of a chain link fence. Emphasising the collision of the holy and the mundane, one can decipher a hotel bar sign advertising Iced Coffee at the bottom of the work, crystallising the ‘constant irrational juxtaposition of things’ that so fascinated and inspired Rauschenberg in the city of New York. As John Cage noted, the artist’s photographic transfer technique functioned as ‘many television sets working simultaneously, all tuned differently.’

In celebration of his centenary, a wide-ranging programme of exhibitions dedicated to the artist is taking place in 2025–26. At present, the artist has solo exhibitions at Thaddaeus Ropac Paris Marais, focusing on the Gluts series (until 22 November 2025); Fundación Juan March, Madrid (until 18 January 2026); Menil Collection, Houston (until 1 March 2026); Museum of the City of New York, New York (until 22 March 2026); and the Guggenheim, New York (until 3 May 2026). Rauschenberg’s work is currently on view in the exhibition Five Friends: John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne (until 11 January 2026).