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‘Walk Away or Jump’ – 55" × 55" oil on canvas (2010) The painting above is rooted in a specific moment from 1978: a walk along a cliff path with one of Robert Rauschenberg ’s assistants. During that walk, he told me he was in love with me. I remember the conversation as a turning point—not because of the words alone, but because it forced a decision. At that height, with that kind of uncertainty, the question felt immediate: step toward a completely different life or step away from it. I’ve often wondered what I turned down: a different creative path, a different level of visibility, a better life or simply a relationship that wasn’t possible. Rauschenberg himself had a history of absorbing major events into his work. In 1969 — less than ten years before that encounter — he was invited by NASA to witness the Apollo 11 launch at Kennedy Space Center and incorporate the experience into his art. He produced the Stoned Moon lithograph series, named both for the litho...