The Erasure Series, 'Fool’s Gold '

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[with CERT] Digital Student-curator Program

The Erasure Series, 'Fool’s Gold '

/People & Artist/

by Shawn Huckins

Tag : #Drawing, #Shawn HUCKINS, #Painting, #Erasure Series

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Shawn Huckins is a Canadian contemporary artist and is active in Colorado. He recently showed his erasure series at the exhibition ' Fool’s Gold '. He presents ‘The Erasures’: physically manipulated pictures through the erasure series. That is, these works were done without any photo shoots, and all of the pieces are original paintings of his own hands. Some of the deletions are a kind of checkerboard patterns that are precisely painted in acrylic paint (This one is well known to appears when you wipe out part of an image).

'The erasures' takes on a very strong meaning regarding those that were the ideas and historical dynamics linked to the past: the artist wonders if they can actually be erased or revised in the present. Thus, references to the more recent American political situation seems to be ingrained in his works. Through this work of metaphor and satire, he interviewed as follows :

“The underlying works chosen for this series originally served as testaments of those who came before us and the indelible mark they left on the world”, Huckins explains in his exhibition statement. “In an era where the internet makes everyone a publisher… The Erasures forces us to examine our assumptions regarding the longevity of individual influence and institutions”.

Although this erased aspect has tarnished the form of the painting, he notes the truth that has been erased through his own artwork. Here's what he says "If we aren’t careful, we won’t have any culture left to erase".