Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns: Uncovering Queer Codes through Art CAMILLE BERDUGO McGill University, Class of 2019 ABSTRACT Historically, members of gay communities have consistently been ostracized and shunned from society, and this was no different in the art sphere either. During the tumultuous socio historical climate of the 1950s, homosexuals had no choice but to hide their identity in order to survive. In this essay, I explore the artistic engagement between Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg’, as well as their public. Through a detailed analysis of the different mimicries between their artworks, the combine technique and the cues camouflaged in their works, I demonstrate how this visual culture associates them to the gay community and examine how such methods of artistic expression facilitated the communication between themselves, as well as their queer audience. Drawing on the work of Jonathan Katz, I evaluate how their innovative art was a radical rejection of the Abstract Expressionist movement. Throughout history, artists, actors, writers and other members of the queer community were submitted to hide their true identity. In a world where same sex desire was not accepted, queer couples had to conceal their personal relationships in order to avoid severe repercussions from their audience. In his 1993 essay “The Art of Code: Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg” featured in Significant Others: