B.D. Graft: Available works

B.D. Graft (Cologne, 1988) captured the attention of art lovers with his uncluttered compositions and playful drawing skills. Combining successful gallery expositions in Amsterdam, Seoul, Düsseldorf and New York with a growing audience of admirers on social media like Instagram and commissioned designs for Virgil Abloh (Off White), Graft has been part of a new generation of artists that successfully navigate the artistic interstices between social media and fine art.

Throughout Graft’s work runs a deeply personal and carefully deliberated attempt to deploy playfulness and contingency as strategies for letting go and making a place for oneself in this world. Graft excels in his use of lush colors; the rich and creamy oil pastels he uses have an enchanting effect. Both in his choice of materials and in his gestural, playful way of drawing his work taps into the spontaneity and joy we experienced when doodling as children. The subtlety of this effect lies in the fact that Graft understands perfectly how to trigger that emotional memory in his viewers. But behind this superficial scrolling experience lies a deeply engaging critical reflection on life in hypermediated times, as well as a more personal story. Graft’s faux naive figurative style moves us away from hypermediation: by way of our childhood memories of carefree drawing we are reconnected to how we once experienced homeliness and nature surrounding us.

Text by Bram Ieven