Grace Graupe-Pillard - Desecrated Landscapes and Displaced

Landscapes that have been desecrated by war and violence, but still retain their majestic beauty. The fissures and cracks are not always visible, but their history is embedded in the roots and ancestry of the land.

Desecrated Landscape: Mingora - Pakistan, oil/alkyd/canvas, 69"x96", 2010

 Desecrated Landscape: Poppy Field-Afghanistan, oil/alkyd/canvas, 65"x 120", 2010

DESECRATED LANDSCAPES PAINTINGS – 2009-2011

   Landscapes that have been desecrated by war and violence, but still retain their majestic beauty. The fissures and cracks are not always visible, but the fragmented abstract painted forms allude to the decomposition and dissolution of nature breached and ruptured.

 Desecrated Landscape: Nanga Parbat/Pakistan, oil/alkyd/canvas, 65"x114", 2009/10

DESECRATED LANDSCAPES PAINTINGS – 2009-2011

   Landscapes that have been desecrated by war and violence, but still retain their majestic beauty. The fissures and cracks are not always visible, but the fragmented abstract painted forms allude to the decomposition and dissolution of nature breached and ruptured.

 Desecrated Landscape: Pakistan-Swat Valley, oil/alkyd/canvas, 65"x114", 2009/10

DESECRATED LANDSCAPES PAINTINGS – 2009-2011

   Landscapes that have been desecrated by war and violence, but still retain their majestic beauty. The fissures and cracks are not always visible, but the fragmented abstract painted forms allude to the decomposition and dissolution of nature breached and ruptured.

 Desecrated Landscape: Afghanistan - Parvan Province, 65"x120", 2009/10

DESECRATED LANDSCAPES PAINTINGS – 2009-2011

   Landscapes that have been desecrated by war and violence, but still retain their majestic beauty. The fissures and cracks are not always visible, but the fragmented abstract painted forms allude to the decomposition and dissolution of nature breached and ruptured.

Wounded, oil/alkyd/canvas, 60"x84", 2005

MANIPULATION/DISPLACED PAINTINGS 2002-2011

   In a world where terrorism, ethnic cleansing, and cultural upheaval have dominated the news headlines, these paintings focus on the devastating effect of war and its impact on the civilian population. Entitled DISPLACED, this series correlates the displacement of civilians in war-torn countries with a visual disintegration of form, evident in both the creative process and in the final painted product. In each painting, the chaos of cultural disintegration is symbolized by the fragmentation of the picture plane. With repeated editing, I appropriate images from journalistic sources, “blowing apart the reality” of the photograph so that the final result is distilled and disintegrated from its original context, and reduced into unpredictably flatly colored eccentric shapes further emphasizing the fragmentation of form and removal from its original source. The process of translating these manipulated images into oil paintings involves a change in scale, color and texture, portraying a seductive beauty that reflects the political "sanitization" of the horrors of war.

Shelter, oil/alkyd/canvas, 65"x96", 2011

MANIPULATION/DISPLACED PAINTINGS 2002-2011

   In a world where terrorism, ethnic cleansing, and cultural upheaval have dominated the news headlines, these paintings focus on the devastating effect of war and its impact on the civilian population. Entitled DISPLACED, this series correlates the displacement of civilians in war-torn countries with a visual disintegration of form, evident in both the creative process and in the final painted product. In each painting, the chaos of cultural disintegration is symbolized by the fragmentation of the picture plane. With repeated editing, I appropriate images from journalistic sources, “blowing apart the reality” of the photograph so that the final result is distilled and disintegrated from its original context, and reduced into unpredictably flatly colored eccentric shapes further emphasizing the fragmentation of form and removal from its original source. The process of translating these manipulated images into oil paintings involves a change in scale, color and texture, portraying a seductive beauty that reflects the political "sanitization" of the horrors of war.

Exile, oil/alkyd/canvas, 66"x94", 2011

MANIPULATION/DISPLACED PAINTINGS 2002-2011

   In a world where terrorism, ethnic cleansing, and cultural upheaval have dominated the news headlines, these paintings focus on the devastating effect of war and its impact on the civilian population. Entitled DISPLACED, this series correlates the displacement of civilians in war-torn countries with a visual disintegration of form, evident in both the creative process and in the final painted product. In each painting, the chaos of cultural disintegration is symbolized by the fragmentation of the picture plane. With repeated editing, I appropriate images from journalistic sources, “blowing apart the reality” of the photograph so that the final result is distilled and disintegrated from its original context, and reduced into unpredictably flatly colored eccentric shapes further emphasizing the fragmentation of form and removal from its original source. The process of translating these manipulated images into oil paintings involves a change in scale, color and texture, portraying a seductive beauty that reflects the political "sanitization" of the horrors of war.

Burning Light, oil/alkyd/canvas,65"x98", 2008

MANIPULATION/DISPLACED PAINTINGS 2002-2011

   In a world where terrorism, ethnic cleansing, and cultural upheaval have dominated the news headlines, these paintings focus on the devastating effect of war and its impact on the civilian population. Entitled DISPLACED, this series correlates the displacement of civilians in war-torn countries with a visual disintegration of form, evident in both the creative process and in the final painted product. In each painting, the chaos of cultural disintegration is symbolized by the fragmentation of the picture plane. With repeated editing, I appropriate images from journalistic sources, “blowing apart the reality” of the photograph so that the final result is distilled and disintegrated from its original context, and reduced into unpredictably flatly colored eccentric shapes further emphasizing the fragmentation of form and removal from its original source. The process of translating these manipulated images into oil paintings involves a change in scale, color and texture, portraying a seductive beauty that reflects the political "sanitization" of the horrors of war.

Afghanistan Women, oil/acrylic/alkyd/canvas, 65"s90", 2011

MANIPULATION/DISPLACED PAINTINGS 2002-2011

   In a world where terrorism, ethnic cleansing, and cultural upheaval have dominated the news headlines, these paintings focus on the devastating effect of war and its impact on the civilian population. Entitled DISPLACED, this series correlates the displacement of civilians in war-torn countries with a visual disintegration of form, evident in both the creative process and in the final painted product. In each painting, the chaos of cultural disintegration is symbolized by the fragmentation of the picture plane. With repeated editing, I appropriate images from journalistic sources, “blowing apart the reality” of the photograph so that the final result is distilled and disintegrated from its original context, and reduced into unpredictably flatly colored eccentric shapes further emphasizing the fragmentation of form and removal from its original source. The process of translating these manipulated images into oil paintings involves a change in scale, color and texture, portraying a seductive beauty that reflects the political "sanitization" of the horrors of war.