In this lesson, students were introduced to the concept of “erasure”. First, it was viewed through the eyes of video artist Paul Pfeiffer as he questions “Who is using who? Is the image making us or are we making images?” Then, students debated the definition of art and erasure as they discussed the infamous Erased de Kooning Drawing, by Robert Rauschenberg. Finally, students questioned historical doctored photographs and how erasure could alter the meaning or historical significance of imagery. This exercise resulted in students applying their skills in Photoshop to execute their own “erasures” where they had to select an element in an image where its subtraction altered the meaning of the image or shifted the emphasis in the composition.
Sara Schulz 