Most art books, even for a deep, vibrant mixed-media artist like Robert Rauschenberg, take a minimalist approach. This monograph, covering 3 series of the artist's sculptures created for a book design course, does not. Using everything from coptic hand-binding, hand-lettering, my own junkyard photos (for texture), and a front cover woven from newspaper, cardboard, and tin cans, I found a satisfying and deeply visceral, but much less quiet, solution.
A chapter opener using newspaper and plastic bags, urban litter similar to what Rauschenberg would have found while seeking materials for his Combines series.
One of the loudest spreads, also from the Combines chapter. A long quote about the artist's process is juxtaposed with two of his works, a scanned, crumpled newspaper, and spontaneous markmaking that references the artists' process.
Of course, not every spread was maximalist. This one, consisting of 3 works in the single-material Cardboards series, is one of the best.
