RAUCHENBERG GALLERY AT FSW

On a road trip recently, I checked out the Bob Rauchenberg Gallery on the Florida Southwestern State College Campus in Fort Myers. This gallery is worth venturing off the beaten path because it is very well done.

If you are unfamiliar with Rauchenberg’s work, his work has been described as Neo-Dadaist, Abstract Expressionist and Pop Art. Rauchenberg worked in many media including painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, paper making, found objects and theatrical performance.

I was fortunate enough on my visit to see two of Rauchenberg’s most famous series, the White Painting series and also the Erased de Kooning Drawings. The white Painting series is wonderful and despite the name and the palette, these paintings show subtle color through the brushwork and the lighting. I could spend hours looking at the subtleties of these great paintings.

The erased de Kooning drawings were exactly as the name implies, drawings by Willem de Kooning which were then erased and of course completed with de Kooning’s permission. I also took the time to look through the companion book on the erased de Kooning drawings by Mike Bidlo.

Bob Rauchenberg like many others thought art is a vehicle to advocate for social and humanitarian issues as well as world peace but perhaps his most notable legacy is his work to bring about art resale royalties for visual artists.

I then enjoyed walking through the building and seeing all the student works on display in the hallways. The Bob Rauchenberg Gallery is suitably located in the Humanities Hall next to the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall.

Peace and Love!