What was unique about Robert Rauschenberg's art?

What was unique about Robert Rauschenberg's art was that it incorporated everyday objects and straddled the line between painting and sculpture. The American artist is best known for the complex assemblages of found objects he termed “combines.” Rauschenberg was drawn to the visual landscape of popular culture and mined its imagery for inspiration. Early in his career during the 1950s, he used unorthodox materials like house paint and tried novel techniques in his studio, like running paper over with a car after inking its wheels. In the 1960s, Rauschenberg turned his attention to silkscreening, creating prints that feature iconic figures of the day, very much in line with the style and content of Pop art. One such work, 1965's CORE, which was created to commemorate the Congress of Racial Equality, combines photographs of President Kennedy, an unidentified Native American man and a statue of a Civil War soldier with images of highways, amusement parks, street signs and other features of the built environment. Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, Rauschenberg experimented with printing on unusual materials, such as Plexiglas, clothing and aluminum. Shop a range of Robert Rauschenberg art on 1stDibs.