Robert Rauschenberg was renown for breaking expected rules – but the Tate have pulled out some ‘rules’ from his work in their extensive current exhibition of his works:

1. Learn from everything and anything
2. Collaborate, share and be generous
3. Use your body, see where things take you
4. Use what inspires you (“A pair of socks is no less suitable to make a painting with than wood, nails, turpentine, oil and fabric”)
5. Break the boundaries.  If it doesn’t exist, invent it
6. Make a difference in your world
7. Break the rules

All these wonderfully illustrated with stills, words and video at:

http://www.tate.org.uk/rules-of-rauschenberg/