Soup or Art? Will The Real Robert Rauchenberg Show Up At LACMA?

Soup or Art... or Rauchenberg?

Anyone who chooses to politicize art, it's a free country, I can't stop you, even if I wanted to so transgress... I have my own issues to worry about.

I had every intention of posting a story about a new exhibit of art by Robert Rauchenberg, that I went to see the same day as El Dia del Muerto, by sheer mortal coincidence, was the same day as the terrorism that struck synagogues in Pittsburgh.

I perused what I could... under a tight time frame that had been pressed by other concerns, I also wrote about for PATCH.

Some of his works that were L.A. Times specific, works that used collages off newspaper clippings, and prompted me to consider how true is the cliche about the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I, myself, did wonder whether this exhibition had been timed to coincide as a lead-up to the November 6 elections, as I remember the Cindy Sherman exhibition at The Broad, also had seemed so timed, almost as inversely intentioned, to end just prior to the Presidential elections in November 2016, I thought especially conspicuous, since one of Sherman's works on exhibit was a self-portrait of her as Hillary Clinton.

It seems a delayed Halloween Trick or Treat surprise is all mine...I rushed my way into an ongoing Rauchenberg exhibition, not the one I thought, may have been pegged like a mad dash in advance of this year's mid-term elections, as if a pre-finish line entry, that one is called The 1/4 Mile, and it has just opened, and runs concurrently with the one I went to see.

In an effort of full disclosure, especially for readers of PATCH, this exhibit, called: Rauchenberg: In and About L.A., is also a retrospective, of art he had done entirely in Florida, not even in CA or New York, states of which I was most suspect, for well founded reasons, based on art savvy, not politics, in and of itself, per se.. and where I've never exercised my right to vote, which I've done in quite a few states, and while it is one of the key states of undetermined status, of red or blue, any true conspiracy theorist, would have to suggest LACMA was offering colors as a peaceful middle ground, the forever sanctuary of art. So much for caliber of conspiracy theories about art.

PATCH has taken precautions that prevent anyone in my position, from knowingly misconstruing the facts, in this case, I have not misconstrued effectively, but as an extra layer of protection, what I didn't see via the view finder of my smart phone- is a photo I am not able to post, as the licensor to license for my work on PATCH...outsmarted as part of one all encompassing patch work like duvet cover. Attached photos are from LACMA's the aforementioned, less new show of art by Rauchenberg, concurrent with one I have yet to see.

Note to those made insecure by Woody Allen, as if Woody Allen had the final say or that much sway, when he made himself the butt of a L.A. bathroom joke in Annie Hall. From my perspective...this exhibition trumps Woody Allen back to Manhattan but here's a real inside tip...Allen used the house that had been home to my closest friends, as a location for a movie, he directed, and released, that featured Bruce Willis as one of the leads. Anyone who's seen this movie, saw Steve Carrell in the part originally cast with Bruce Willis. When filming one scene, Willis so mangled his lines, each take, he couldn't read the cue cards right. Allen fired him, as a full frontal assault like a tyrannical Hollywood director or garden variety Louis B. Mayer.

Never forget what they say about the bell that rings too loud or protests too much...the turn of the screwed is for whom?

(I hope I haven't conflated the case with misconstrued exhibits...there's an upside and a downside to the way LACMA designs its exhibition spaces...it's almost as if art intermingles as collective evidence in one run-on case in the court of public opinion. One needs to be a very attentive viewer to make sure you're not appreciating art...out of order.)

THAT'S NOT PATCH WORK WISDOM...WE ARE ALL TRANSPARENT.

INFORMATION ABOUT BOTH RAUCHENBERG SHOWS ARE AVAILABLE AT ONE LINK: www.lacma.org