Transoms (1989)

Transom is a small painting series comprised of only two works on aluminum. The multi-panel supports are irregularly shaped, perhaps assembled from leftover scraps of enameled and anodized mirrored aluminum from concurrent metal painting series such as Shiners (1986–93) and Urban Bourbons (1988–96). In addition to silkscreened images of Rauschenberg’s own photographs over color-blocked backgrounds, these works incorporate large bold letters and numbers, forming codes, words, or word fragments.