Robert Rauschenberg: Night Shades and Phantoms

Rauschenberg’s luminously palimpsestic metal paintings evocatively combine the material processes of photography and art

This publication is entirely dedicated to Robert Rauschenberg’s (1925-2008) Phantoms and Night Shades, made in 1991 and widely considered to be the artist’s most experimental series.

In the Night Shades, photographs by the artist are silkscreened onto aluminum panels that have been treated with a corrosive varnish, revealing and concealing evanescent images. In the Phantoms, photographs are silkscreened onto a mirrored surface.

In these ethereal works, Rauschenberg alludes to his artistic past by conjuring the palimpsestic actions of memory. This publication includes an essay by the American painter David Salle. The plates are accompanied by source images by the artist.