R.I.P. Rauschenburg

Robert Rauschenburg, a member of the pantheon of 20th century artists, passed on Monday evening. I feel fortunate I was able to see one of his last retrospectives, at the Guggenheim, in 2000. When I was there, I admired his painting Bed, which includes an actual quilt:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/arts/design/14rauschenberg.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

A few months after having painted the piece below, I began to think of it as an homage of sorts to Bed and, in a larger way, to Rauschenburg himself:

Snow Snake, collage and enamel on panel, 2007.