Grace Graupe-Pillard’s large scale paintings comment on the fragmentation of life for survivors in war-torn countries.
Inspired by news photographs of bombings, refugees and prisoners, she transformed these images into nearly abstract paintings. By camouflaging the stark images of war into seductive arrangements of pure color, Graupe-Pillard created a metaphor for the idea that photojournalism’s construction of reality is no less artificial than that of painting.
The photographer’s selection of subjects and subtle manipulation of images, and the choice of photographs for publication resulted from decisions – aesthetic, commercial, and political – that extended beyond the goal of representing the reality of war as objectively as possible.
2004 Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery Exhibition Sponsor: Welling LaGrone and Morgan Keegan.
