Assemblage Artistic process in which a threedimensional artistic

Assemblage • Artistic process in which a threedimensional artistic composition is made from putting together found objects. • Made up of preformed natural or manufactured materials, objects, or fragments not intended as art materials.

“I wanted something other than what I could make myself and I wanted to use the surprise and the collectiveness and the generosity of finding surprises. And if it wasn’t a surprise at first, by the time I got through with it, it was. So the object itself was changed by its context and therefore it became a new thing. ” 1925 -2008

Robert Rauschenberg • Known for his “Combines” of the 1950’s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were used in innovative combinations. • Considered a forerunner of Pop Art. His works used both found objects, and found images.

“I don’t think of myself as making art. I do what I do because I want to, because painting is the best way I’ve found to get along with myself. ”

“I really feel sorry for people who think things like soap dishes or mirrors or Coke bottles are ugly, because they’re surrounded by things like that all day long, and it must make them miserable. ”

“When you put together things that other people have thrown out, you’re really bringing them to life – a spiritual life that surpasses the life for which they were originally created. ” 1899 -1988

Louise Nevelson • Used found objects or everyday discarded things in her “assemblages”. • Worked monochromatically (black, white, or gold).

"I think most artists create out of despair. The very nature of creation is not a performing glory on the outside, it's a painful, difficult search within. "

Once her friend and patron Howard Lipman showed her an early American rocking chair that he had just acquired. He asked Nevelson's opinion of the chair. "I couldn't care less about the chair, " she said, "but look at its shadow. "