For over twenty-five years, the gallery at Edison State College had an enduringfriendship with world-renowned artist Robert Rauschenberg. Exhibits of Mr. Rauschenberg’s work started in 1980 and the gallery was host to numerous world premiere showings, including the unveiling of the first installation of The 1/4 Mile or 2 Furlong Piece. The following is a list of the fifteen Rauschenberg exhibits held at Edison State College:
1980 February 3 – 27: Spreads and Scales series shown at the
Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community College
1982 February 6 – 26: The ¼ Mile or 2 Furlong Piece first installed
and exhibited at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community
College. 190 feet of the piece covered every inch of the
walls. It is a work in progress and at one point reached 790 feet long.
1983 July 22 – September 9: The second footage of The ¼ Mile or 2 Furlong Piece exhibited at the Gallery of
Fine Art, Edison Community College
1984 October: The Salvage series was exhibited at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community College
1986 March: Rauschenberg: newest continuation of The ¼ Mile or 2 Furlong Piece exhibited at the Gallery of Fine
Art, Edison Community College
1987 March 26 – May 7: Robert Rauschenberg: Gluts exhibited in the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall
1988 December – March: Rejected Rauschenbergs exhibited in the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall
1993 April 30 – June 13: Rauschenberg exhibit at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community College
2000 March 9 – April 16: Robert Rauschenberg: Recent Work opened at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison
Community College
2002 March 28 – April 28: Rauschenberg: Short Stories exhibit at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison Community
College
2004 Gallery of Fine Art at Edison Community College renamed Bob
Rauschenberg Gallery. The dedication of the gallery coincided with the
exhibit, Rauschenberg: Scenarios from June 4 – July 11.
2005 January 7 – March 5: A Quake in Paradise (Labyrinth) exhibition at Bob
Rauschenberg Gallery. This was the first time the work was exhibited in
the U.S. The piece can be assembled in various configurations that
viewers walk through and around, giving it a maze-like quality.
2007 January 12 – February 24: Rauschenberg: Scenarios exhibition at Bob
Rauschenberg Gallery
2008 January 11 – February 9: Robert Rauschenberg, Artist-Citizen:
Posters for a Better World at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery
2008 June 21 – July 3: Celebrating the Life of Robert Rauschenberg at the
Bob Rauschenberg Gallery
Source: Some of the exhibition information came from Rauschenberg / Art and Life, 2004, by Mary Lynn Kotz