Paul Pfeiffer

Although they are beautiful in their own right, Paul Pfeiffer's beach scenes harbour an intriguing history and melancholic absence. Their composition and scale, as well as traces of a human presence such as footprints and shadows, hint at an absent central figure. In fact they use as their source material a series of iconic photographs of Marilyn Monroe, taken by George Barris in 1962, during one of the star’s last photo shoots before her death. Pfeiffer has used digital techniques to painstakingly remove all traces of the human figure from the photographs, frustrating our desire to see Monroe and leaving behind only a spectral presence.