Don't Erase

Artists all throughout history have stated don’t erase your work.

But why? Why do so many of them keep their mistakes showing? Why is all of it a part of the drawing? Even the greats like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci kept their stray lines and mistakes showing through many of their sketches.

Well, if art is a reflection of life, then you can’t erase. Life happens. Scars accumulate. Memories accumulate. And you can’t just erase them. We just learn from them. Those lines are not good or bad in themselves. They are just a part of the story, a part of our lives, a part of the artwork. All the paths we take in life become the lines that make up the overall picture of our life.

But I guess there’s also scar removal procedures, and creams and stuff. And you can always start a new drawing, just like you can start a new season or chapter of life. Plus, there’s a famous work of art by Robert Rauchenburg where he literally erased a drawing by famous artist Willem de Kooning, creating value in the erased drawing, ‘Erased de Kooning.’

… So there’s that…