Carla Groppi’s work in pastel and charcoal

This huge (152 x 122cm) orange pastel drawing by Carla Groppi displayed by Alicia David Gallery stopped me in my tracks at The Affordable Art Fair.

She is obsessed by the Belle Epoque photography of Eugène Atget, repeating the same imagery in subtly different ways as you can see below.

Apart from her obvious technical skill, I’m fascinated by the energy of mark making and the scale of her pieces. they are a bit of a body blow at first sight then draw you in as you look more carefully.

I pulled these photos from the web as didn’t take any at the show. You need to see the work to appreciate the breaking up of a legible image into abstraction, a process I never tire of exploring in my own work.