This week we are analyzing two artists that use the terms subtraction/erasure in a contemporary way. Subtraction reduced to its most basic definition is the removal of material. Traditionally this term was applied to the act of wood carving for example. As you carve a piece of wood you reduce its volume. However, today subtraction has been appropriated to apply as a method rather than the results of a process. Alexander Apostol in his image Residente Pulido (The Polished Resident) used the subtractive methodology to create a building without doors or windows. He achieved this through his use of photoshop. He renders the building un-useable in its traditional sense and recreates it as empty, hollow, isolating, monolithic structure. Apostol uses the subtractive method as critique of the urban planning, development and the marginalization of people in Latin American countries.
The second artist Charles Cohen utilizes erasure in his series Buff (1999-2005). He digitally removes the image replacing it with a white outline. Cohen additionally recreates nonsensical backgrounds to further remove the provocative image from its original intent. He erases these pornographic images so as to critique their use. By leaving only their silhouettes he forces the voyeur to rely solely on there imagination. Thus freeing the enslaved feminine image from the male gaze.
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