About

Anna Reser

BFA Student, University of New Mexico

Studio Arts/ Printmaking


Executive Director
ASUNM Arts & Crafts Studio
University of New Mexico

Albuquerque, New Mexico

This site houses my portfolio, divided by year, and a blog in which I keep things that need keeping.

October 25, 2012
Permalink »
museumuesum: Robert Rauschenberg Erased De Kooning Drawing, 1953 traces of ink and crayon on paper, mat, label and gilded frame, 25 1/4 in. x 21 3/4 in. x 1/2 in. (64.14 cm x 55.25 cm x 1.27 cm) From 1951 to 1953, Robert Rauschenberg made a range of artworks that explored the limits and very definition of art. These works recall and effectively extend the notion of the artist as creator of ideas, a concept first broached by Marcel Duchamp with his iconic readymades of the early twentieth century. With Erased de Kooning Drawing, Rauschenberg set out to discover whether an artwork could be produced entirely through erasure — the removal of marks from a sheet of paper rather than the addition of them to it. Rauschenberg first tried erasing his own drawings but found that the results fell short of the threshold he believed an object must cross in order to be considered art. He then decided that the starting point for the project must be a drawing that was undeniably an artwork of significance. He approached Willem de Kooning, an artist for whom he had tremendous respect, and asked him for a drawing that Rauschenberg would proceed to erase. De Kooning agreed, somewhat reluctantly, and deliberately chose a drawing that would be difficult to rub out. After Rauschenberg completed the laborious erasure, he and fellow artist Jasper Johns devised a scheme for labeling, matting, and framing the work, with Johns inscribing the following words below the now-obliterated de Kooning drawing: ERASED DE KOONING DRAWING ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG 1953 The simple, gilded frame and understated inscription are integral parts of the finished artwork. Without the inscription, one would have no idea what is in the frame; the piece would be indecipherable. Together the erased page, inscription, and frame stand as evidence of the psychologically loaded deed of rendering another’s artwork invisible, enacted in the privacy of the artist’s studio. Watch the interview where he explains how he asked de Kooning for the drawing. 

museumuesum:

Robert Rauschenberg

Erased De Kooning Drawing, 1953

traces of ink and crayon on paper, mat, label and gilded frame, 25 1/4 in. x 21 3/4 in. x 1/2 in. (64.14 cm x 55.25 cm x 1.27 cm)

From 1951 to 1953, Robert Rauschenberg made a range of artworks that explored the limits and very definition of art. These works recall and effectively extend the notion of the artist as creator of ideas, a concept first broached by Marcel Duchamp with his iconic readymades of the early twentieth century. With Erased de Kooning Drawing, Rauschenberg set out to discover whether an artwork could be produced entirely through erasure — the removal of marks from a sheet of paper rather than the addition of them to it. Rauschenberg first tried erasing his own drawings but found that the results fell short of the threshold he believed an object must cross in order to be considered art. He then decided that the starting point for the project must be a drawing that was undeniably an artwork of significance.

He approached Willem de Kooning, an artist for whom he had tremendous respect, and asked him for a drawing that Rauschenberg would proceed to erase. De Kooning agreed, somewhat reluctantly, and deliberately chose a drawing that would be difficult to rub out. After Rauschenberg completed the laborious erasure, he and fellow artist Jasper Johns devised a scheme for labeling, matting, and framing the work, with Johns inscribing the following words below the now-obliterated de Kooning drawing:

ERASED DE KOONING DRAWING
ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG
1953

The simple, gilded frame and understated inscription are integral parts of the finished artwork. Without the inscription, one would have no idea what is in the frame; the piece would be indecipherable. Together the erased page, inscription, and frame stand as evidence of the psychologically loaded deed of rendering another’s artwork invisible, enacted in the privacy of the artist’s studio.

Watch the interview where he explains how he asked de Kooning for the drawing. 


(via museumuesum)

Notes:

  1. random-research reblogged this from museumuesum and added:
    still nice though….Mr. Rauschenberg…!
  2. comrutador reblogged this from aymayzen
  3. ginamaria reblogged this from museumuesum and added:
    Robert Rauschenberg
  4. napalmsmiles reblogged this from deniseher
  5. deniseher reblogged this from museumuesum and added:
    Robert Rauschenberg has really grown on me, he’s definitely on my list of favorite artists.
  6. thepoeticsofdecay reblogged this from museumuesum
  7. sirenaeo reblogged this from ceramicsandtheory
  8. ceramicsandtheory reblogged this from museumuesum and added:
    Boner
  9. timelyobservations reblogged this from museumuesum
  10. aleimina reblogged this from museumuesum
  11. cortiscrazy reblogged this from museumuesum
  12. quite-so reblogged this from museumuesum
  13. nomefriegues reblogged this from museumuesum
  14. waywardpine reblogged this from museumuesum and added:
    HAHAH YES SOMEONE DEDICATED TO GRADE-A ART BULLSHIT I LIKE IT
  15. vizualvocabulary reblogged this from museumuesum
  16. isthatyoujohnwayne reblogged this from museumuesum
  17. gonzaemi reblogged this from museumuesum
  18. detachmentism reblogged this from museumuesum
  19. annafeather reblogged this from museumuesum and added:
    Watch the interview where he explains how he asked de Kooning for the drawing.
  20. aymayzen reblogged this from the-arthouse
  21. hss6749 reblogged this from museumuesum
  22. the-arthouse reblogged this from museumuesum