logo
home work about contact
title

POWER

" This project has been conceived as a reflection about the representation of power in Western culture from classical Greece to the present. Considering that this subject is very extensive and can be tackled from multiple points of view, my approach focuses on the use of sculpture to make portraits of historical leading figures directly related to political or military power. These figures ranging from Julius Caesar to Vladimir Putin, includes leading protagonists of history such as Philip II, Napoleon Bonaparte or Joseph Stalin. All these characters have been key to understand the history of the Western civilization and all of them have used art as a propaganda tool to serve their own interests. My aim with this project is to analyze the relationships between art and power through history, displaying a visual timeline of images showing the viewer how art has always worked under the shadow of political power. This close relationship between art and power seems to be a constant until the early twentieth century, when the avant-garde erodes this union on behalf of the autonomy of art. However, this process of breaking with the interests of the apparatus of power has proved to be a chimera. Nowadays the concept of propaganda has changed to more sophisticated forms but it still works in a fully functional way.

Back to albums
Image description

Pericles. Pastel on paper, 60 x 50 cm. 2016

Image description

Alexander the Great. Pastel on paper, 100 x 70 cm. 2016

Image description

Julius Caesar. Pastel on paper, 100 x 100 cm. 2016

Image description

Augustus. Pastel on paper, 200 x 140 cm. 2016

Image description

Hadrian. Pastel on paper, 140 x 100 cm. 2016

Image description

Hadrian (2). Pastel on paper, 70 x 50 cm. 2016

Image description

Trajan. Pastel on paper, 100 x 70 cm. 2016

Image description

Commodus. Pastel on paper, 140 x 100 cm. 2017

Image description

Charlemagne. Pastel on paper, 140 x 100 cm. 2016

Image description

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Pastel on paper, 140 x 100 cm. 2016

Image description

Philip IV of Spain. Pastel on paper, 200 x 140 cm. 2016

Image description

Louis XIV. Pastel on paper, 140 x 200 cm. 2016

Image description

Louis XIV (2). Pastel on paper, 180 x 140 cm. 2016

Image description

George Washington. Pastel on paper, 140 x 180 cm. 2016

Image description

Napoleon. Pastel on paper, 140 x 100 cm. 2016

Image description

Napoleon (2). Pastel on paper, 140 x 100 cm. 2016

Image description

Abraham Lincoln. Pastel on paper, 140 x 200 cm. 2016

Image description

Queen Victoria. Pastel on paper, 100 x 140 cm. 2016

Image description

Wilhelm II, German Emperor. Pastel on paper, 140 x 100 cm. 2017

Image description

Benito Mussolini. Pastel on paper, 100 x 140 cm. 2016

Image description

Adolf Hitler. Pastel on paper, 70 x 70 cm. 2016

Image description

Lenin. Pastel on paper, 80 x 140 cm. 2016

Image description

Joseph Stalin. Pastel on paper, 200 x 140 cm. 2016

Image description

Mao Zedong. Pastel on paper, 140 x 100 cm. 2016

Image description

Margaret Thatcher. Pastel on paper, 140 x 100 cm. 2016

Image description

George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush. Pastel on paper, 140 x 140 cm. 2016

Image description

Kim Il-sung. Pastel on paper, 200 x 140 cm. 2016

Image description

Kim Jong-il. Pastel on paper, 140 x 100 cm. 2016

Image description

Barack Obama. Pastel on paper, 110 x 100 cm. 2016

©2015 All right reserved. Kepa Garraza