Gary Simmons’s “Erasure” series includes drawings on chalkboards that recall racially stereotypical cartoons from the 1930s and 1940s. Originally these cartoons were meant to convey a sense of lightheartedness, but they also contain sinister racist undertones that reveal a history of disparaging depictions of African Americans in popular culture. Simmons blurs and distorts these images by smearing them with his hands, subsequently challenging the stereotypes they portray. He plays on the chalkboard as a common pedagogical tool that is used to teach children about the world.