Fred Einaudi's portraits take the iconic visual language of their subjects – the can-do attitude of women in wartime propaganda posters, the innocence and curiosity displayed in paintings of children, the elegance and drama of Victorian and Edwardian era portraiture – and juxtaposes it with unexpected images of death and destruction. The results are some of the most haunting visions of humans and animals going on with their lives in a devastated world.
The dreamlike images of "Patriot" (at the top) and "Rousseau" (above) suggest a world where most humans and industry have disappeared, leaving just a few human beings to press on. But the monochromatic "Buttonmaker," "Chocolate Donut," and "Hungry" suggest additional losses – loss of clean air, loss of limbs – that present a more extreme vision of the new normal.
A few of his paintings depict the things we would leave behind. "Necropolis" shows a snowy boneyard not of our bodies, but of our vehicles, while "Extinction (Study)" reminds us that when we're gone, our Darwinian betters will move impassively about the last monuments of our existence.
[Fred Einaudi via Coilhouse]