Robert Rauschenberg in Florida

Bob in his Captiva Studio Photo: Kat Epple

1970
Moved to Captiva Island, Florida

1972
Made Venetian Series, inspired by the sculptural aspects of posts jutting out of the water, draperies shading cafes, and back alleys he admired on his trips to Venice.  He made the series minimal, emphasizing the shapes of the ordinary objects used.

1976
Began Spread Series (named for the way the pieces spread across the wall) and continued through to 1981.  These were shaped by Rauschenberg’s viewing and response to his retrospective at the Smithsonian, and also by the first piece in the series, Rodeo Palace, which the series evolved from.  Seeing his retrospective encouraged him to use his old styles, material, and images in the new series.

1977 
Made Chow BagsSeries

1980
February 3 – 27, Spreads and Scales series shown at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community College

1982
February 6 – 26, The¼ Mile or 2 Furlong Piecefirst installed and exhibited at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community College.  One hundred ninety feet of the piece covered every inch of the walls.  It is a work in progress and at one point reached 790 feet long. 

1983
July 22 – September 9, The second footage of The ¼ Mile or 2 Furlong Piece exhibited at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community College

1984
Made Salvage series, named for the materials, techniques, and experiences used over the past thirty-five years of his work.

October, The Salvage series was exhibited at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community College

1985
Began ROCI (Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange) project and continued through to 1991.  The project was a vast collaborative enterprise and a network for international artistic communication.  Its intention was to use art as a transmitter of information, bringing art across borders, awakening curiosity, and contributing to worldwide peace. 

1986
Began the sculptural series, titled Glut, made out of scrap-metal items such as car parts.

Began Shiner series and continued it into the following year.  In this series he silkscreened his photographed images on large sheets of aluminum or stainless steel and attached metal objects, such as screens, to the surface. 

March, Rauschenberg: newest continuation of The ¼ Mile or 2 Furlong Piece exhibited at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community College

1987
March 26 – May 7, Robert Rauschenberg: Gluts exhibited in the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall

1988
December – March, Rejected Rauschenbergs exhibited in the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall

1989
Began Borealis series, in which he printed and painted on brass, copper, or bronze sheets with tarnishing chemicals.  He decided to end the series after three years due to its toxic method. 

1990
Began Bleachers series and continued through to 1995.  The Bleachersseries, named such for using bleach in the process, incorporates old and new images into large format Polaroid prints.  He was inspired to do this series after parts of black and white photographs were inadvertently faded out in the sun, where he had left them to dry. 

Began the Urban Bourbon series which he continued for seven years.  The series accumulated ninety-five works and consisted of bold colors silkscreened and painted onto baked enamel-coated aluminum panels and mirrored aluminum.

1991
Made Spartan Series

Made Night Shade, a series that used his past photographic work in black and gray acrylic paintings on aluminum

1992
Began Waterworks series and continued the work until 1995 at which point he had created 231 pieces for the series, using vegetable dyes for the first time in his art.

Began Bicycloids series consisting of neon-outlined bicycles, which he continued for two years

Began Eco-Echo, a sculptural series with Don Saff, a professor at the University of South Florida who founded Graphicstudio

1993
Created Scales (Off Kilter Keys) series, which are three dimensional paintings on aluminum

April 30 – June 13, Rauschenberg exhibit at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community College

1994
Began year long work on series called Shaleswhich are encaustic paintings out of the “Fire Wax” process.  He collaborated on this series with Don Saff.

1995
Began Anagramseries which he continued through to the following year.  The series includes 236 paintings.

1996
Exhibited Quattro Manipaintings, a series he continued, with Los Angeles as the subject, through 1999.  He collaborated on the series with Darryl Pottorf, who used black and white photographs for his contribution while Rauschenberg used color for his. 

1997
The Anagrams series evolved into the series, Anagrams: A Pun, where he used vegetable dye transfer on polylaminate.  He continued the series through to 2002.

1999
Started the Apogamy Pods series, which he continued through to the following year.  The series is transferred onto archivally sound polylaminate using vegetable pigments.  The name, meaning asexual reproduction as in ferns, came from the artist wanting the paintings to, “grow out of themselves, to contain their own contradictions and get rid of the narrative, which is the sex of picture-making.”

Created Ruminations, a highly personal series consisting of photographs of friends and family

Made Quattro Maniseries in collaboration with Darryl Pottorf

Made Marrakitchseries

2000
March 9 – April 16, Robert Rauschenberg: RecentWork opened at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community College

Began Short Stories Series (2000 – 2002) with each painting titled only with a page and paragraph number.  The viewer is to provide the narrative.

2002
Began Scenarios Series, which consist of water-soluble pigment transfer on a polylaminate surface.  The series combines vast regions of negative space with imagery accumulated from the Captiva area. 

Bob in New York Photo: Kat Epple

March 28 – April 28, Rauschenberg: Short Stories exhibit at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community College

2004
Gallery of Fine Art at Edison Community College renamed Bob Rauschenberg Gallery.  The dedication of the gallery coincided with the exhibit, Rauschenberg: Scenarios, June 4 – July 11.

2005
January 7 – March 5, A Quake in Paradise (Labyrinth)exhibition at Bob Rauschenberg Gallery.  This was the first time the work was exhibited in the U.S.  The piece can be assembled in various configurations that viewers walk through and around, giving it a maze-like quality. 

2007
January 12 – February 24, Rauschenberg: Scenarios exhibition at Bob Rauschenberg Gallery

Source: Rauschenberg / Art and Life,2004, by Mary Lynn Kotz

*Bold indicates exhibitions at Edison College