The large banquet scenes are both personal and anonymous at the same time. The obscuring of the eyes isolates the figures while also making them appear as a cohesive group or secret society. The notion of the void often reappears in Graff’s work. As well as concealing the identities of the sitters in these highly detailed scenes, the void also references the history of abstraction in painting. The notion of the void is a constant preoccupation for Graff, and can be clearly observed in his ‘Black Box’ body of work, mainly consisting of painted portraits, where the eyes of the subjects are superimposed with a black rectangle. As well as concealing the identities of the sitters, the notion of the void references the history of abstraction in painting. 

 

 

 

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