Stephane Graff

Stéphane Graff (born 1965) is a Franco-British, self-taught artist, based in London. His practice focuses on photography and photo-realistic paintings. Having been influenced by the psychoanalytical traditions of Freud and Jung, and scientific methods, Graff, regularly addresses in his work themes of identity, concealment, memory and a secular conception of the sacred. In-depth research led Graff to develop Alter Egos such as the scientist 'Professore' and the ethno-botanist Dr Albert Frique. His most extensive bodies of work are the 'Black Box' paintings, the 'Constrictions' photographic series, and the 'Mille-Feuille' paintings, which are made on numerous strips of wood, combining the disciplines of painting and sculpture. Graff has exhibited internationally. Selected exhibitions include: Galleria Mucciaccia, Rome; Almine Rech Gallery, in London (2016); The Musée d'Art Modern et Contemporain in Nice, France (2013); the Ercel Foundation in Turin, Italy (2010); the Operating Room, Amerikan Hastanesi, Istanbul (2010); the Musee de Marrakech, Morocco (2004); and the Museum of Mankind in London (1991). Graff is the son of billionaire diamond tycoon Laurence Graff.

Career and works

Early work In the late 1980s, Graff utilised techniques combining painting, photography and photomontage. In a 1988 solo exhibition there were three categories of work: "Theological Studies", "Feminine Beauty", and "Screaming Portraits". In 'The Canonisation of Mary Magdalene', the subject is veiled in black and depicted mourning Christ's crucifixion. According to De Dreyer, "By sculpting the halo in black, the artist narrates the transition from prostitute to saint." In February 1991, Graff exhibited the series 'Earthworks' at Crane Kalman Gallery, London. Works were made from earth, sand and oil paint, combined and applied to a wooden surface. Graff utilised a restricted palette of greys and earth tones, with the thick layers of "indigenous media" which he intended to be evocative of cave walls. 'Traces de Terre', 'Akhenaten's Dream' and 'Moonblood Dance', referenced Paleolithic painting. ". The exhibition also included a body of work titled 'Sand Reliefs'. and later revisited the series in 2013. The images present both male and female bodies as sites for constriction or concealment. The body of work is presented as an apparent archive. 'Professore' is a fictional scientist, who is often depicted performing complex and "absurd" experiments. Working primarily with photography, and also with painting, collage, sculpture, installation, sound and video, Graff created pseudo-scientific conditions within a fictive "laboratory". A review of a 2012 exhibition at Galerie Odile Ouizeman by Phillipe Dagen appeared in Le Monde, commenting on "allusions to Duchamp, Ernst, and also the cinema of the 1920s and 1960s performance art...".

According to Vaitsou, Graff's 'Professore' work is an exploration of identity, its construction, concealment, and breakdown. 'Professore' is also seen apparently conducting scientific experiments with the use of his apparatus in the middle a café. Graff claimed "I was curious to see how the public would respond to this figure. 'Professore's unconventional science can range from the fantastic to the banal, but he always treats his experiments with equal reverence so that they come across as plausible".

While Graff's 'Black Box' work presented historic images of groups of artists,; in the 'Professore' series, he became interested in groups of scientists. Hence, there are images of 'Professore' montaged with images of Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. The 'Black Box' series also featured paintings of empty studios, such as Bacon's and Brancusi's. "With the 'Professore' work, this idea mutated into images of science laboratories, spaces for experimentation".