Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange

the long version

A catalog of an international art project seven years in the making, ROCI documents an exhibition that traveled in many senses. Robert Rauschenberg, once the enfant terrible of the New York School, is now the Old Master journeying to disparate locales in Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Americas, salvaging found or discarded objects and imagery. The resulting ROCI exhibitions, held in each nation after intensely focused research trips by the artist, incorporate Rauschenberg's ability to accumulate the images and colors of a society--from the sacred to the banal--into a structure of cultural interchange and international diplomacy. The art inspired by each region is reproduced here in successive chapters introduced by local notables like Octavio Paz and Yevgeny Yevtushenko. The results are as bewilderingly varied and compelling as his travels must have been. Indeed, the book is splendid to behold, laconically emphasizing the work itself rather than allowing art jargon to overwhelm the lovely color reproductions. Highly recommended.