Robert Rauschenberg is an internationally acclaimed artist who came to prominence in the 1950s. Interested equally in abstraction and in popular culture, he was one of an early group of Pop artists who changed the course of modern art. The tire is an enduring symbol in his work, and its meaning is ambiguous. What is often most important for the artist is not the individual object, but the context in which the object is placed. Here, the rubber tire—humble, dirty, industrial, and ecologically adverse—is re-created in colorless glass and presented as a thing of exquisite beauty. Luminous and seemingly precious, the glass tire casually leans in its silvered tire carrier. The work, as is typical of Rauschenberg, is highly ironic, but it also encourages the viewer to consider everyday objects in new and unexpected ways.