How did Rauschenberg become interested in art?

Rauschenberg had a tendency to pick up the trash that interested him on the streets of New York City and bringing it back to his studio to use it in his works. He claimed he %26quot;wanted something other than what I could make myself and I wanted to use the surprise and the collectiveness and the generosity of finding surprises. And if it wasn%26#039;t a surprise at first, by the time I got through with it, it was. So the object itself was changed by its context and therefore it became a new thing.%26quot;[3]