Robert Rauschenberg: Gluts

Thaddaeus Ropac Paris Marais presents the first exhibition in 15 years dedicated to Robert Rauschenberg’s Glut series (1986–94), and the first ever held in France. Coinciding with the centenary of the American artist’s birth, it runs in parallel with international exhibitions in his honour.

Created from salvaged metal objects—road signs, automotive parts and industrial debris—the Gluts marked Rauschenberg’s decisive move into sculpture free from the canvas. Inspired by a trip to recession-hit Texas in 1985, where oil surplus left a landscape of abandoned vehicles and failed petrol stations, the works transform scrapyard remnants into wall reliefs and freestanding sculptures.

Returning to the series over nearly a decade, Rauschenberg also incorporated materials from his collaborations with dancers and choreographers, notably in the Neapolitan Gluts, first assembled from found objects during a performance emergency in Naples in 1987. Rarely seen together since their last major presentation in 2009–10, the Gluts reveal Rauschenberg’s enduring engagement with collaboration, recycling, and the poetics of reclamation—anticipating ecological concerns central to art today.