Paintings

Lord Anthony Cahn’s paintings explore the passage of time, capturing a contemporary society in constant flux. His art responds to the dehumanizing aspects of modernity by reviving discarded materials—such as debris and posters—drawing inspiration from nature as both muse and medium. By layering and tearing poster backs, he creates textured surfaces that echo natural cycles and erosion, recurring themes in his work.

Cahn embraces the concept of the ready-made, placing authenticity at the core of his practice. He reimagines the urban and rural landscapes that have influenced him since childhood. His wall pieces elevate everyday elements, transforming them into impressions of his environment—serving as an impressionist manifesto reflective of his world.

Since 2005, the artist has created a series of monochrome paintings using Parisian posters weathered by rain. During his walks, he observes how images and colors gradually fade, leaving only fragments and traces of letters behind. Fascinated by this transitional state between visibility and disappearance, he works with the reverse side of the posters, shifting attention to what lies behind the image—evoking memories of the places where they once hung.

By focusing on these imprints, the posters are transformed into nearly monochrome surfaces where presence and absence, front and back, before and after, are in constant interplay.

Viewers are encouraged to notice these residual traces and to experience images shaped as much by what has vanished as by what remains.

Reduced to their imprints, the posters become almost monochrome surfaces where presence and fading, front and back, before and after, come into conflict. The viewer is invited to perceive these residual traces and to experience an image constituted as much by what remains as by what has disappeared.