THE BAZOOKA SERIES ~ MONKEY BAZOOKA
Six Versions : Eighty Nine Iterations
The central idea for this series was this, combine two image elements from other works and combine them here as features. Both the 2011 Bazooka packaging and the 1980 “Red Monkey” Chinese stamp. The Monkey Bazooka series was long; it was like a boxing match with each new incarnation struggling to justify its right to exist while previous versions elements continued to malinger. These integration conflicts would become skirmishes over visual territories. These conflicts are the building blocks for all of the visual relationships throughout the entire Rauschenberg Jr. series.
Conceptually the works produced as Rauschenberg Jr. focus on image acquisitions, visual property rights, reconstitution and transmutation of image sets. For example, the use of the Bazooka packaging is not different then deKooning’s drawing (if you look you can still see the signature under the monkey from Version Four - Iteration Thirteen onwards). The integration of such recognizable artist asks a simple question. When does the individual artist right to uniqueness expire, or at least diminish enough for reconstitution.
Conceptually the works produced as Rauschenberg Jr. focus on image acquisitions, visual property rights, reconstitution and transmutation of image sets. For example, the use of the Bazooka packaging is not different then deKooning’s drawing (if you look you can still see the signature under the monkey from Version Four - Iteration Thirteen onwards). The integration of such recognizable artist asks a simple question. When does the individual artist right to uniqueness expire, or at least diminish enough for reconstitution.
Version Four Iteration Seven
Version Five - Iteration Eight
Version Five - Iteration Thirteen
Version Six - Iteration Twenty One
Version Six - Iteration Eleven
