I never allowed myself the luxury of those brilliant, beautiful colors until I went to India and saw people walking around in them or dragging them in the mud. I realised they were not so artificial.
Robert RauschenbergRead
Very quickly a painting is turned into a facsimile of itself when one becomes so familiar with with it that one recognizes it without looking at it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Familiarity with a piece of art can lead to a loss of genuine appreciation.
This quote by Robert Rauschenberg suggests that when we engage with a painting too frequently, we may begin to recognize its image without truly seeing or appreciating the depth and intricacies it holds. This familiarity can transform the artwork into a mere facsimile in our minds, detracting from the emotional and intellectual engagement that art is meant to inspire.
Themes
ArtFamiliarityAppreciationPerceptionRecognition
In practice
Example use cases
Discussing the role of familiarity in art appreciation during an art workshop.
More from Robert Rauschenberg
All quotes βI'm not so facile that I can accomplish or find out what I want to know or explore enough of the possibilities and a way of making a painting, say, in just one painting or two paintings.
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My art is about paying attention - about the extremely dangerous possibility that you might be art.
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The artist's job is to be a witness to his time in history.
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There was a whole language that I could never make function for myself in relationship to painting, and that was attitudes like tortured, struggle, pain.
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I don't really trust ideas - especially good ones... Rather, I put my trust in the materials that confront me, because they put me in touch with the unknown.
Robert RauschenbergRead
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