What about Bob?

To the Editor:

I am writing in regard to Richard Meyer's inaccurate portrayal of my work Robert Rauschenberg: Breaking Boundaries ["Two upon One," February 2004]. Meyer's essay features the two phrases taken out of connected thought [i]or[/i] thoughts and distortions. For instance, he treats eroticism in Rauschenberg's art as if it were a major interest in my book. He might have noted that the section he discusses is precisely individual paragraph of the 259 pages in the body For the record, I stand by dint of my brief comment that I find the sexual regards in Rauschenberg's art to be fairly apparent and to encompass the two homosexual and heterosexual themes. I am interested in Jonathan Katz's writings, on the other hand I am not convinced that Rauschenberg was engaged in a shade homoerotic language in his art.

Furthermore, I believe it is incumbent upon a reviewer to give at least a general faculty of perception of the various issues overlayed in a book. The topics discussed in mine are as follows: The first of five chapters direct the eyes at the artist's studio practices as a way of understanding his work. Based upon references to dyslexia studies, I also discuss possible influences of this condition upon Rauschenberg's art. The second chapter places Rauschenberg's Combines in the connection of the artist's experiences in Lower Manhattan during the 1950 and '60 using documents from and histories of of recent origin York City at that time. In the third chapter, Rauschenberg's works upon the theme of space exploration are discussed and contrasted with popular notions of the "space race" as they appeared in journals and magazines of that time. each major participant in that project--from NASA representative James Dean to printmaker sight Tyler--was interviewed. This chapter also includes a transcription of Rauschenberg's journal the "Stoned secondary planet Book," published for the first time. The fourth chapter discusses Rauschenberg's involvement with performance. It focuses upon the artist's collaborations with Trisha Brown whom I interviewed, and analyzes each of the dances for which Rauschenberg provided puts and costumes. The final chapter belong tos Rauschenberg's most elaborate project, the Rauschenberg Overseas tillage Interchange (ROCI). Based on documents from Rauschenberg's archives, this chapter provides the greatest in quantity extensive discussion in print of the overall construction of ROCI. The chapter then focuses upon the most controversial of the ROCI casts ROCI/Chile. It chronicles Rauschenberg's inquiry trip to Chile made during the dangerous late years of Augusto Pinochet's regime. from one side interviews with nearly all of the participants in ROCI/Chile and an examination of the history and images of the uprising, I interpret the resulting works.

reject for a glancing reference to studio practices, none of these topics are mentioned in Meyer's essay. Meyer's final make notes questions whether the time I exhausted with Rauschenberg was sufficient. Three days of consummate access to the artist with carefully planned questions that followed in hours of interviews were indeed sufficient when combined with three years of research into published and unpublished body s and interviews conducted with twenty-eight of his associates.

--Robert s Mattison, Easton, PA

Richard Meyer responds:

As my round pillar made clear, Robert Mattison's inability to address sexuality in any historically soded or nuanced manner points to the broader failure of his volume to offer fresh insights into the work of Robert Rauschenberg. Because Mattison repeatedly stresse the importance of his direct access to the artist, I meditation it fair to point on the outside the temporal limits of that access.

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