Thursday, February 16, 2012

"Video of the Week" -- Robert Rauschenberg, Erased de Kooning -- by Florida Fine Art Blog


If video does not play please go here 


This morning's post about the lecture on Duchamp's Readymades at MAM had me thinking about another controversial artist, Robert Rauschenberg.   Robert Rauschenberg was know as a New York painter for sure but he was also very happy living in Captiva, Florida.   A Florida Artist Hall of Fame member, Robert spent the better part of 30 years in Florida.  One piece of his in particular comes to mind when I think of the Readymades and probably his most controversial work, "Erased de Kooning."  The video above is of Robert retelling the now famous story of how and why the work was created.  As Robert describes the work; "it's not a negation, it's a celebration."  And the fact that de Kooning understood the idea right away shows what a great artist he was.  The story also illustrates how far a bottle of Jack Daniels will get you with most artists!

New York magazine ran a 3-page excerpt from de Kooning: An American Master, by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan, describing how a young Robert Rauschenberg asked the middle-aged de Kooning to give him a drawing that he could erase.  Download the pdf. here

Robert Rauschenberg Foundation website here



 Erased De Kooning 1953

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