A cooperative conceptual project directed by artist Nik Bentel (2018).
My contributions to this concealment assemblage are the meta entanglements of the upper left-most portion: a) Ouroboros-type QR code matrix/link [to this self-same webpage]; b) Miniaturized version of the actual original, untouched Rauschenberg artwork (links to screen-presentable high-res “digital archive” version); c) Dense QR directive to proper project citation(s).
The idea being that if a curious viewer approaches the gallery-mounted picture and phone-scans either of the bookend embedded QR-code graphics, they will then be directed to supplementary electronic info about the project, especially the Rauschenberg original’s history that has now been conceptually and physically obscured. And some untainted visual info is on the very webpage they may be currently circularly linked to…
IOW: The stealthy QR matrices digitally proffer alternate viewing of the sourced Rauschenberg print in its unaffected state. When scan-triggered, this self-referential easter egg linking graphically intercedes to wipe aside all the static imagistic banalities that had superficially “erased” it; hence, the revised collage edifice -affixed now as the print’s new physical surface- can be virtually re-revised to be viewable once again in its original print form.
The artwork that was to be forever obliterated actually has that very same artwork protectively embedded within itself. [You’re very welcome, Robert.]
“In 1953, Robert Rauschenberg erased an art piece created by the abstract expressionist Willem De Kooning. Rauschenberg called the piece “The Erased De Kooning Drawing.” This act of erasure was a poetic way of having pop art succeed abstract expressionism.
Following in the footsteps of Rauschenberg and in response to the economic trends of the art market, Nikolas Bentel raised $10,000 to purchase an art piece created by Robert Rauschenberg. Bentel covered the cost of the purchase by selling space on the Rauschenberg piece as advertising space. Each square inch of the art piece was sold for $92.59. This made the act of purchasing the art piece, an act of destruction, allowing the economics of the art world to destroy an expensive piece of art.”
https://www.erasedrauschenberg.com/
For additional informational and/or perpetual marketing stuff related to Nik Bentel and the “erased Rauschenberg Project” (working title /2018):
Links: 1) https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidalm/2018/03/21/erased-rauschenberg-sells-for-21k/?sh=c187a6e6b35d
2) https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/why-this-artist-intentionally-destroyed-a-famous-work-of-art