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Pop Artist Robert Rauschenberg Dies

By Associated Press

A gallery representative says artist Robert
Rauschenberg has died in Florida. Pop Artist Robert Rauschenberg Dies

Published: Tue, May 13, 2008 - 9:28 am Last Updated: Tue, May 13, 2008 - 9:32 am

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A gallery representative says artist Robert
Rauschenberg has died in Florida.
Jennifer Joy, his representative at Pace Wildenstein in New York
City, says the 82-year-old Rauschenberg died yesterday. A cause of
death is not yet known.
Rauschenberg was known for his use of odd and everyday articles,
earning him regard as a pioneer in pop art but whose talents
spanned the worlds of painting, sculpture and dance.
He first gained fame in the 1950s, but didn't mine popular
culture wholesale as Andy Warhol (Campbell's Soup cans) and Roy
Lichtenstein (comic books) did. But his "combines," incongrous
combinations of three-dimensional objects and paint, shared pop's
blurring of art and objects from modern life.
Among his most famous combines was "Bed," created when he woke
up in the mood to paint but had no money for a canvas. His solution
was to take the quilt off his bed and use paint, toothpaste and
fingernail polish for his creation.