ROCI VENEZUELA (1985)

This series of paintings and collage on canvas or plywood was made for ROCI VENEZUELA, part of the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange project, and exhibited at Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas in 1985. In June 1985, Rauschenberg traveled to Caracas and Maracaibo, as well as to the Amazonian Territory in preparation for ROCI VENEZUELA. Some works feature a brown pigment that derives from annatto, a coloring made from seeds of the achiote tree, which was used by the indigenous people Rauschenberg met in the Amazon as body paint. The photographic imagery silkscreened in the paintings comes predominantly from black-and-white photographs Rauschenberg took during his travels in Venezuela.