NEWS RELEASE May 19, 2010

FRED JONES JR. MUSEUM OF ART UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA - NORMAN CONTACT MICHAEL BENDURE, Director of Communication, 405-325-3178, mbendure@ou.edu FAX: 405-325-7696 www.ou.edu/fjjma

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WITH IMAGE Unique Museum Concert Celebrates Rauschenberg May 28 NORMAN, OKLA. – What does a collage sound like? Does modern art make a sound? Stringed instruments, a record player, percussion and vacuum cleaners will be featured in a free concert 5 p.m. Friday, May 28, at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. The experimental concert draws its inspiration from the works of modern artist Robert Rauschenberg. For the last several months, the FJJMA on the University of Oklahoma’s Norman campus has displayed multiple works by Rauschenberg (1925-2008) alongside other modern artists in its Hobson Family Gallery. The works are on loan from a private collector. To honor the life and works of Rauschenberg, the museum is staging the live concert surrounded by Rauschenberg’s works in conjunction with the OU School of Music. Michael Lee, associate professor, is organizing the music for the event. “The entire event will be presented as one large combine in homage to Rauschenberg’s artistic methods,” Lee said. “Among the things the audience will witness are performances of music from diverse styles, including original improvisations and compositions created in homage to the art works on display.” Performers include violist Christian Asplund, a leading experimental composer/performer and founder of Seattle Experimental Opera, University of Houston professor Blake Wilkins on percussion and featured cellist Jonathan Ruck from Utah. Lee will join the trio on bass, record player and vacuum cleaners. Pre-existing works that could be included in the performance include John Cage’s “In a Landscape,” Lou Reed’s “Stephanie Says,” Sun Ra’s “Tiny

Pyramids,” Christian Asplund’s “Sugey,” Saint-Saëns’ “Swan” from “Carnival of the Animals” and Johann Sebastian Bach’s unaccompanied cello suites – now accompanied by phonograph and vacuum cleaners. “The Cage piece dates from his years of collaboration with Rauschenberg at Black Mountain College,” Lee said. “The entire presence of the phonograph pays respect to Rauschenberg’s virtuosic performances on phonograph. The Lou Reed pays respect to the presence of gritty street scenes in the paintings by Rauschenberg housed at the museum – plus it’s a cool song. “The classic cello literature tries to lend a voice to the cello enmeshed in Rauschenberg’s Tibetan Sound Garden / ROCI Tibet, but also stems from the presence of venerable imagery embedded in the Rauschenberg work in the room.”

FJJMA director Ghislain d’Humières said the gallery serves as the ideal location for live music inspired by art. “This concert is a fitting tribute to the influential and poignant works embodied by Robert Rauschenberg,” d’Humières said. “Surrounded by his stunning art, visitors will interact with Rauschenberg in a completely new way during this amazing collaborative concert with the OU School of Music.” The concert will be followed by Art After Hours at 6 p.m. in the museum’s Dee Dee and Jon R. Stuart Classroom. Sponsored by Arvest Bank, the 45-minute talk will focus on Rauschenberg’s

works. Light refreshments will be served. Texas-born Rauschenberg developed as a painter in North Carolina after leaving the Marines in the late 1940s. While attending Black Mountain College under the tutelage of painter Josef Albers, Rauschenberg met composer John Cage and dancer Merce Cunningham. The three collaborated on numerous projects, including “Happenings,” and all were later faculty at Black Mountain.

Rauschenberg eventually moved to New York, where his art transformed to more of a collage-like style, combining multiple images onto different media such as aluminum, brass, glass and Plexiglas. These “combines” became Rauschenberg’s signature works. “Of course, the entire premise of the concert is inspired by the ideal of combines,” Lee said. “At times the cello will be submerged in the sound of sharply contrasting material, other times supported by the trio, and other times working in contrast to chance selected recordings. The vacuum might be an updated rethinking of the whiskbroom Rauschenberg fastened to the cello neck in Tibetan Sound Garden. Plus I have several vacuum cleaners in my office that deserve to be heard again after years of silence.” The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is located in the OU Arts District on the corner of Elm Avenue and Boyd Street, at 555 Elm Ave., on the OU Norman campus. Admission to the museum is free to all OU students with a current student ID and all museum association members, $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, $3 for children 6 to 17 years of age, $2 for OU faculty/staff, and free for children 5 and under. The museum is closed on Mondays and admission is free on Tuesdays. The museum’s Web site is www.ou.edu/fjjma. Information and accommodations on the basis of disability are available by calling (405) 325-4938. Construction on a new wing is under way, but the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is open and fully functional with exhibitions and programming throughout the entire construction process.

### IMAGE CUTLINE This 1986 work, Tibetan Garden Song / ROCI Tibet, takes center stage when the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art presents a live concert at 5 p.m. Friday, May 28. Experimental performances featuring songs influenced by the modern art works of Robert Rauschenberg will be performed within the setting of his original works on display inside the museum. The concert is free and open to the public. Credit line: Robert Rauschenberg (U.S. 1925-2008) Tibetan Garden Song / ROCI Tibet, 1986 Cello, chrome-plated wash tub On loan from a private collector