Japanese Recreational Clayworks (1982–83/1985)

This ceramic painting series is the second group of works that Rauschenberg executed at Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics Company in Shigaraki, Japan, while waiting for his Japanese Clayworks (1982/1985) to be fired. The Japanese Recreational Clayworks were made on prefabricated Japanese art ceramic panels that reproduced Western art icons. Rauschenberg added images of contemporary Japan and other places from his own photographs along with gestural strokes of pigment.