Dunno

2022
Acrylic, gouache, and pencil on linen canvas
42 x 42 x 5 cm
RT4A2206
Courtesy of the artist

The process began by attempting to blend a sentence, painted in the style of the artist Remy Zaugg (and his iconic use of the typeface Univers 85, by Adrian Frutiger), with a self-portrait memoji. The sentence was erased, as it seemed overly dramatic and unsuitable, yet in a way, it still made sense even as erased and invisible, thinking of Zaugg, but also of Robert Rauschenberg’s Erased de Kooning Drawing, 1953.

This erasure meant that only the memoji, the image, was simply drawn against a dark backdrop. The shrugging memoji intentionally borrows its hues from traditional emojis. It appears, ghostly, with only the eyes fully painted, while the skin, body, and attire are outlined using coloured pencils.

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