Troy Brauntuch

Troy Brauntuch is one of the leading exponents of the picture generation that figured prominently in American art in the late 1970s and early 1980s, alongside such artists as for example Matt Mullican, Cindy Sherman and David Salle. They used material from films, newspapers, journals, and magazines, recycling their found motifs into re-photographs. Their deconstructivist methods fed into their ideological critique of the mechanics of seduction without undermining the compelling impact of the pictures themselves — because the production and reception of pictures were recognized as ideological constructs.

Troy Brauntuch copies, assimilates and alienates media images and transfers the modified pictures to black cotton fabric. Oscillating between abstraction and figuration, the largely everyday motives of Brauntuch’s compositions challenge perception and call for great concentration. By questioning the authenticity of images and the manipulated messages behind them, the artist draws attention to what they do not depict, thereby destabilizing the relationship between pictures and their alleged meaning. — Dominique von Burg