Inspirational Artist - Rauschenberg, 1925-2008

Back in my Parsons' foundation year days, circa 1989, I was greatly influenced by the renown artist, Robert Rauschenberg. Coming from Alaska (high school) and Hawaii (grade school) I would say I wasn't much of an artist enthusiast. All I knew is that I wanted to be a fashion designer. But Parsons is known for their unique approach to schooling, where all students are required the first year to participate in a "foundation" year of art, whereby at the end of the first year you can officially choose your major. So what does art really have to do with Fashion Design? I was never a great artist per say, especially a lousy drawer (I hated my life drawing class!), but surprisingly enough, I found my niche during foundation year. I discovered the artist, Rauschenberg by chance. In my favorite class, Form and Space, we were challenged to create 3-dimensional art. I was in awe of Rauschenberg's technique of combining real-life found objects (preferably found on the streets around you) with paint, newsprint, photos, or any form that could be adhered to and painted over to form a collage-style canvas. Living in the East Village, the streets were filled with inspiring found objects, but one particular work of mine was created with an unworthy, finicky Hoover vacuum cleaner from my dorm room. I mounted that puppy right up on a 6 ft. canvas and splashed red paint on it and covered it with fabric, magazine print, and other collage-worthy materials (take that you bastard vacuum cleaner that never worked!) Talk about getting out your frustrations. I'm sure Rauschenberg had his moments too.

So I'm sad to say, that the one and only artist that truly inspired me during my tumultuous days at my first year at Parsons (and first year in the big, bad city of NYC), has passed today. Who knows, if I hadn't discovered this truly adventurous artist, I may not have made it through foundation year or through the following grueling years of Parsons' fashion design program. His work is even more relevant today as we all tout to "reduce, reuse, recycle" - there's nothing more relevant than recycled art or incorporating found objects in art. He was right on the money. I'm anxious to finally make it over to Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art to check out his largest exhibit chronically his best work. Many years ago I was inspired by his work at the Guggeheim, but I think it may be time again for some new inspiration now that I'm a working designer and to help remind me of where it all started - in my crummy dormroom off 12th St. in the East Village with my crappy Hoover and a big bin of red paint.