Robert Rauschenburg’s “Erased de Kooning Drawing.”

This artwork was made by an artist who had the idea that he could make a new artwork by erasing another artist’s drawing—with the artist’s permission.  Does giving your permission for something like this to happen to a piece of your artwork make you a part of the process – like a collaborative piece? I dont think of it as a collaboration but more a work of art by Willem de Kooning which is what it was before it was handed to Robert Rauschenburg.  I think of it in the exact same way with de Kooning being the artist who created this piece of work.  I think that by allowing the erasing to occur de Kooning plays a more superior part in the artwork however I also think of Robert Rauschenburg as an artist who had a great idea and wanted to be more involved in other artists work.

Maybe I need to be more appreciative of the concept involved but to me everything is still there that was before erased.  The marks left which could not be erased, the pressure of the materials all tell the story of what was there so the painting is still there its just that you can see it slightly differently – not that the apperance of it has changed but thinking of it  differently.


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