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Opal Gospel

Artist Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925–2008)

Date1971

MediumTen Plexiglas sheets with silkscreen, lucite base, stainless steel box Edition 196/230

DimensionsEach panel: 18 × 20 inches (45.7 × 50.8 cm);
Overall: 21 1/2 × 22 15/16 × 7 inches (54.6 × 58.3 × 17.8 cm)

ClassificationsMixed Media

Credit LineThe Print and Artist's Book Collection of Phyllis Goody Cohen, Class of 1957

Terms

Mixed Media
American

Object number97.080

Label CopyThough portfolios are traditionally associated with works on paper (prints and photography), in the 1960s and ’70s artists increasingly began experimenting with more unconventional supports, including Plexiglas. Opal Gospel, so-named for both the iridescent silkscreen inks used to make it and for the Native American songs and poetry that it comprises, comes housed in a stainless steel box with a base that indicates the placement of the panels as well as the origin of the text printed on each one. However, whether displayed on the wall or left in their base, the notion of chance is paramount: rearranging the overlaid transparent panels produces unique juxtapositions of image and text and introduces a participatory component, while varying their sequence on the wall evokes a range of haphazard narratives and connections. ("All for One and One for All: Portfolios from the Permanent Collection," co-curated by Andrea Inselmann and Sonja Gandert and presented at the Johnson Museum June 24-August 20, 2017)

Collections