NEW YORK, NY.- In celebration of Robert Rauschenberg’s (1925–2008) centennial, New York University’s Grey Art Museum presents an exhibition of works from the NYU Art Collection. Handle with Care: Robert Rauschenberg’s Ecological Conscience—on view from September 9, 2025, through April 11, 2026, at the Grey Art Museum at 18 Cooper Square—explores Rauschenberg's sense of environmental crisis through eight of his editioned works on paper made from 1970 to 1982. These works address environmental and ecological issues, variously reproducing news articles about oil spills, endangered wildlife, and consumer packaging, and often include hand-rendered and collaged elements. Three are special edition prints commissioned to fundraise for environmental and humanitarian causes.

Rauschenberg’s ecological conscience was shaped by his upbringing in Port Arthur, Texas, where oil refineries and pelicans were familiar sights. In 1970, after achieving prominence as a major American artist in New York City, he relocated to Captiva, a small island off the Gulf Coast of Florida. Witnessing oil spills and dwindling bird populations, he approached his artmaking with a new sense of urgency and quickly began to integrate these motifs into his work. Also drawing inspiration from the detritus of daily life, his prints reproduce materials such as newspaper clippings, agricultural feed bags, photographs, postcards, and cardboard.

Highlights from the exhibition include General Delivery (1971), primarily a screen-printed image of torn and flattened cardboard boxes. Postcard images of the Floridian surf and brown pelicans appear in the print itself and as collaged elements that the artist affixed to the print’s surface. Native to both Captiva Island and the artist’s hometown, brown pelicans were endangered due to pesticide use and were a common feature in his prints. With its environmental focus and use of cardboard, this work marked a pivotal turn for the artist and spurred his Cardbirds (1971) and Cardboards (1971–72) series. Another work, Mink Chow (1977) is one of two prints on display from Rauschenberg’s Chow Bag (1976–77) series, which reproduces imagery from Purina’s animal feed packaging. Prompting questions about animal care ethics at the outskirts of the agricultural industry and demonstrating his increasing ecological awareness, this print includes the manufacturer’s charismatic rendering of a mink, an animal bred for its pelt.

A boom in the American print market in the 1970s allowed Rauschenberg to fundraise for environmental and humanitarian causes by creating special edition prints for a range of sponsors. Commissioned by the Academic and Professional Action Committee for a Responsible Congress for their Peace Portfolio I, Rauschenberg’s Untitled (1970) is composed of newspaper clippings with headlines about oil and gas spills in the Gulf Coast. These headlines are juxtaposed with an article describing the U.S. Senate’s refusal to pass legislation banning military use of chemical defoliants in Vietnam. This was one of several works the artist created to call attention to oil and its mismanagement.

Organized by the Grey Art Museum with support from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Handle with Care contributes to a global slate of 2025–26 centennial initiatives reexamining Rauschenberg’s legacy, honoring his expansive creativity, spirit of curiosity, and commitment to change. The exhibition is curated by Phoebe Herland, Rauschenberg Curatorial Intern, Grey Art Museum, and doctoral candidate at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts.

“The Grey Art Museum is extremely proud to organize and present Handle with Care, joining an international roster of institutions commemorating the artist’s 100th birthday. Museum and University leaders, past and present, have long dreamed of a moment when the Grey could provide resources—space, funds, and time—to NYU students to organize exhibitions from our permanent collection,” says Michèle Wong, Interim Director. “This exhibition is a testament to our collective dedication to realizing this goal,” Wong adds.

“In considering the Grey’s collection of works by Robert Rauschenberg, a subtle theme surfaced without my looking for it,” the curator Phoebe Herland says, “and I imagine the artist could say the same. Rauschenberg was, by nature, a socially engaged artist who paid keen attention to the world around him. The works on view reflect a unique moment when the environmental movement and the print market emerged and strengthened in stride, and together they might provide a model for future activists."

A brochure featuring an essay by Herland accompanies the exhibition.

Through this focused presentation of impactful prints and editions, Handle with Care offers a timely examination of Rauschenberg’s engagement with environmental issues, inviting contemporary audiences to reflect on art's role in fostering responsible global stewardship.