Charlotte Mann Creates Intricate Dry-Erase Artwork Using Wolf-Gordon’s Wink Coating
Last month, American design company Wolf-Gordon, developer of interior surfacing products, commissioned UK-based artist Charlotte Mann to create a site-specific art installation using Wink, a clear finish that transforms flat surfaces to dry-erase boards. Called “Erasing Is Leaving a Mark,” the large-scale, site-specific installation was created at the Gowanus Souvenir Shop and took Mann and a team of assistants five days to complete. Using nearly 100 black dry-erase markers and erasers, Mann and her team transformed the wall into a scene straight out of the industrial Brooklyn neighborhood replete with chain-link fences and abandoned lots shrouded in overgrown brush. For Mann, erasing parts of the piece to add in white space was just as much a part of the project as drawing.
“Erasing is definitely just as important as making a mark—it is leaving a mark,” Mann said in a statement. “That act of removal is utterly active. It’s not a backwards step, but rather a change. To distinguish between creating and erasing in a hierarchical way curtails the possibilities for invention and discovery.”
Wolf-Gordon commissioned Mann to create the piece as part of its 50th anniversary celebration.
“We’ve worked with fine artists in the past, and for this project we wanted someone with a distinct and beautiful drawing style that’s also very dense and had a compulsive quality to it,” says Marybeth Shaw, vice president of product design and marketing for Wolf-Gordon. “What [Mann] found fascinating with Wink is that it allows for active erasure. Most people think that erasure is destructive and not part of the art, but it became part of getting to the finished product.”
Wolf-Gordon unveiled Mann’s work on March 1 as part of an opening event and the piece was on view through March 13. To commemorate the installation, a segment was photographed and reproduced into a limited edition digital wallcovering, which is available for purchase at the Gowanus Souvenir Shop.
