Section 6 – Soviet/American Array: Part I, Politics and Friendships
Rauschenberg sought to address the politics of peace constructively through art and friendship. He carried out his aims primarily in the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI), which included research, exhibitions, and making connections with artists, critics, and poets in eleven countries. As part of ROCI, in 1989 Rauschenberg became the first American artist since World War II to be given a solo exhibition in the Soviet Union. For his Moscow show, Rauschenberg created the print series Soviet/American Array. The Russians invited him to exhibit in the Soviet pavilion at the Venice Biennial in 1990, and he became the first artist to represent a country other than his own in that venue.
Rauschenberg and the Soviet “unofficial” artists represented in this room have all maintained a visual and/or conceptual dialogue for decades.
I felt as though I had a brand new family I had adopted and nobody was more than twenty-one. – Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg, Soviet/American Array VII, 1988-91. Photogravure on paper, artist’s proof, 78 1/2 x 51 1/8 inches (199.4 x 129.9 cm). Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New York, New York.© Robert Rauschenberg Foundation / Licensed by VAGA, New York, New York.
Leonid Lerman, Improvisation in Red and Blue, 1993. Oil on offset print, 32 3/4 x 40 inches (83.2 x 101.6 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Museum purchase, 1995.14.1. © Leonid Lerman. Courtesy McKee Gallery, New York, New York. Photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion.
Oleg Vassiliev, Chistoprudny Boulevard, 1992. Lithograph on paper, edition 9/40, 29 5/8 x 21 1/8 inches (75.2 x 53.7 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Gift of the artist, 1995.19.4. Art © Oleg Vassiliev / RAO, Moscow / VAGA, New York, New York. Photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion.