Before our trip to MOMA, I’ve only been to this museum once. Both times, I did not get to walk around and explore the museum as a whole. Due to time constraints this time, the museum staff rushed us out, allowing us to only see specific pieces of Robert Rauschenberg’s work. Although I was not able to spend a lot of time with each piece, I was still able to grasp what Rauschenberg tried to convey. Each of his pieces contained everyday items that we throw out and see as garbage. However, Rauschenberg saw these items as pieces of art. He took multiple pieces and put them together to create a piece that no one could ever imagine, such as a goat with a tire around it. This piece that Rauschenberg put together is truly unique. How did he ever think to put a tire around a goat? Why did he think to paint the tire white? Why was the goat’s face splattered with paint? These questions that come to my mind have gone through Rauschenberg’s mind when creating this piece. He did not let the norm stop him. Instead, he used his art as a creative expression, shown clearly by the different unique pieces that is shown in the MOMA.
When Professor Natov asked us to find unordinary pieces that are beautiful around us, I was reminded of Rauschenberg. I used his artwork as an example to find pieces in our everyday life that is considered art. Art is not confined to just an artist’s painting or sculpture, but expands out to things like nature creating a piece of art by coating tree branches with snow. Such an ordinary thing on a winter day, but when looking at it, it’s beautiful. It’s easy to just walk by small pieces of art around us, but it’s important to stop once in a while and observe all the little things that can also be considered art.
