EM Graff

EM Graff, a self-taught painter based in Los Angeles, finds direction in his art not in the conscious realm, but in that of the psychic. Instinctually pulled towards excavation, he digs into his practice not with shovels or pic axes, but with paint and non-art materials until his work resembles something both familiar and entirely unknown to the artist— he himself a viewer, a witness to an enigmatic affect. He unearths his paintings as if they’ve been there all along, a fernweh, a brush with an ineffable spirit, a nostalgia for a place he hasn’t encountered before, an archaeology of the very most psychic realm. These ironies endlessly imbue the content of Graff’s work. His laborious and exploratory approach to each painting produces an artifact of, and a parlance between, the troublesome and malevolent trials of human nature and the kindness, grace and magic that perseveres. When done best, Graff leaves the world to find home.

@e.m.graff