Erasure and Abstraction - An Artistic Process

The paper looks at erasure and abstraction as forms of phenomenological trace in the art works and processes of artists, filmmakers and composers. It begins with Lady Macbeth’s guilt, manifested in the imaginary washing of recurring blood spots, exemplifying the act of erasure and memory within the psychological self. This is followed by the comparison and analyses of a range of interdisciplinary art works by Idris Khan, Alvin Lucier, Brice Marden, Cy Twombly, Wim Wenders, Yayoi Kusama and Qiu Zhijie, revealing how they manipulate source materials, through acts of removal and corrections, or by methods of intense layering to convey disruptions. The paper proposes erasure as an impossible act of forgetting, but rather one that conceals and reveals directionally complex visual and sonic information within a range of material constructs.

Citation: 
Woo, Ian. “Erasure and Abstraction - An Artistic Process.” Issue 08: Erase, Lasalle College of the Arts, 2019, pp. 35-45.