T.R. Ericsson: Nicotine Dream

T.R. Ericsson... Arthur (2008, nicotine on paper, 20 x 16 inches). From the exhibition T.R. Ericsson: Nicotine Dream at Paul Kasmin Gallery. "...In creating these works on paper, Ericsson uses a silkscreen process, essentially an intensified version of the process through which his mother's white ceiling became stained yellow. Digital photographs are burned into silkscreens. Subsequently the images are recreated in nicotine as ashtrays filled with smoldering cigarettes are placed beneath the screens, slowly creating pictorial stains while destroying the screen. The process requires anywhere from fifteen to six hundred cigarettes to create a single image."