“I usually work in a direction until I know how to do it, then I stop. At the time that I am bored or understand — I use those words interchangeably — another appetite has formed. A lot of people try to think up ideas. I’m not one. I’d rather accept the irresistible possibilities of what I can’t ignore.” -- painter, sculptor and a major figure in the Pop art and neo-Dada movements Robert Rauchenberg (10/22/1925 - 5/12/2008). Awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1993, Rauschenberg and contemporaries like Jasper Johns created a new style of art in the vibrant, post-war environment of New York City that's still engaging and provocative.
One humorous story captures Rauschenberg's iconoclasm. He was commissioned by the Vatican to create a work to honor the Jubilee year of 2000, and created a 20-foot long rough draft called "The Happy Apocalypse." It was rejected by the Vatican because the artwork depicted God as a satellite dish.
(photo: Ace, 1962 by Robert Rauschenberg at Tate Modern, London. Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images)
