ink

Momentary – Solo Exhibition by Carne Griffiths – Lilford Gallery Folkestone, 29 July to 21 August 2016

Imagine if you could slow down and stop time. Take a moment to examine the beautiful detail in everything that surrounds us. We are living so fast that everything is blurred and we can’t possibly appreciate the fragility of our own existence…. that’s the ethos of this exhibition, a meditation on the beautiful detail of the natural world.  Through paintings, embroidered works and a virtual reality installation – Momentary seeks to stop time.. for just a moment .. and permits us to see the beauty of an explosion, of spinning shards of glass  – the beating of a hummingbirds wings, the detail concealed within its’ plumage, the incredible pattern and order that makes up the chaos.

momentary, ink and tea on 535gsm bockingford watercolour paper 21 x 29cm £475
Momentary

I am pleased to invite you to an exhibition opening at Lilford Gallery in Folkestone this Friday the 29th July.  The exhibition is my first solo show in just over 2 years and brings together a collection of framed original works on paper, limited edition prints and a virtual reality installation.

Here is a little about the collection of work and also a snippet of the new pieces that will be on show at the exhibition which runs until 21st August at Lilford Gallery

Inspired by nature’s expansive colour palette these new works present a vivid alternate reality, ‘Let’s stop time’ invites the viewer to slow down and take time to reflect on the beauty within their surroundings, a chaotic solitary moment becomes a place for meditation.  ‘Eternity’captures the beauty and chaos of a single brush stroke within which an alternate reality is revealed like a dream or a momentary glimpse into the life of a stranger all in a single moment. In’Perfectly Still’, the ‘Hourglass’ and ‘Elevation’ time is brought to a standstill and the beauty of nature among chaos is evident, all three works begin as an abstract composition, embracing chaos and the freedom of single strokes of paint, accidents and chaos in which we seek to find order. Rising from this chaos we find beautiful accidents of nature or creation depending on our beliefs and ideologies, it seems almost irrelevant how they occur.. what is common is the beauty in infinite detail.

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‘The Mortal Coil’ challenges us to look at our own time and existence – the brevity of our time on this planet, the place we hold among our surroundings and our connections with the natural world, as the painting pulses revealing a skull beneath the layers it reminds that we are flesh and bone,it challenges us to appreciate our short time, to make the most of our existence.  In ‘Knowledge is Power’, ‘Trouble’, Brave new world and ‘Protection’ I want the viewer to look at the possibilities and opportunities that arise from a single moment – each work references the image ‘I and Love and You’  by photographer Michael Färber.  Each image searches the subject for a different story, chaos plays it’s part again and these works are an example of the approach taken to painting – allowing chaos and chance to dictate the outcome.

The smaller portraits ‘momentary’ series focus on calm and meditation – both in the approach to the drawings but also in the subject itself – they are quiet moments of contemplation and time taken to reflect.  These pieces were created at the end of the show and are a pause point and possibly and indication of where the work will turn next.

In addition to these and other original works I will be showing three new limited edition prints as follows;

A hand  embroidered print with hand painted goldleaf details called ‘A little piece of peace and quiet’ edition of 20

A Little Piece of Peace and Quiet giclee print with deckle (Custom)

A 50cm x 70cm Giclee Print – ‘Perfectly Still’ on Hahnemuhle etching paper with Hand torn edges

Perfectly Still 1000px with deckle 50 x 70cm on Bockingford 535gsm Watercolour Paper £2400

A 50cm x 50cm limited edition giclee of the Oracle Printed on Epson bright white ultrasmooth paper

The Oracle

The inclusion of the oracle as a print in this show is to link some of the works on black paper I have produced with a virtual reality installation piece called ‘Momentary’.  The piece takes elements from all of the new paintings and blends these with details from the works on black paper – but it does so in a virtual space using the HTC Vive Headset viewers are able to explore this virtual environment and examine the painting in it’s virtual sulptured form.

 

 

 

 

 

Just out of Reach – Limited Edition

Just out of Reach by Carne Griffiths

Just out of Reach 24ct Gold Detail

Just out of Reach - Varnish Detail
Just out of Reach (available here) an archival limited edition print on 330 gsm Somerset Paper with hand torn edges, 60 x 80 cm.
The print accurately reproduces the original painting as an archival quality giclee print adding 24 carat heavy gold detailing and varnish layers to enhance the elements within this print.

 

Details of the varnish and gold leaf can be seen clearly in this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyV3eIFfUxA

Full Details of this edition

Print Medium: Giclee with Screenprinted Varnish Layers and 24 carat gold detailing
Print Size: 50 x 70cm paper size 60 x 80cm
Edition Size 50 prints plus 5 x Artist Proofs
Signed and editioned by the artist.

More information about the Print

Just out of reach brings to attention the things which we desire and reminds us of the importance of the natural world. Combining imagery from advertising and fashion with nature, the artist utilises the powerful ‘selling gaze’ and uses it to transport the viewer into a fantasy world abound with rich nature and lush vegetation. The broken shards of glass symbolise the moment of realisation, when we rediscover the beauty in our natural surroundings. The use of glazes on the shards of glass and the opulence created by the 24 ct gold detail serve to question just what riches are and what is important in life.

Our greatest desires are normally the things just out of reach.

 

Hypnotic State

This is probably the final piece created for 2015, a hypnotic state, for a client in the US.

EPSON scanner image

The piece returns to a theme of shattered glass that I used in the Inkd Gallery exhibition Fragile a number of years back – I am fascinated by optics and also how best to convey them in this medium.  The thing about drawing glass is that it has very little form or shape itself.  It’s interesting, the way in which it displaces the things round it.

I’m excited about expanding the palette with a new range of calligraphy inks with a more intense colour base too and I discovered a number of new techniques working this new commission – one of which was to enhance the immediate and visceral graphite lines by tracing over them deliberately with fountain pen.  There is something about the contrast of the two marks together on the page that I find really exciting, one is the chaos of the free line that comes from the subconscious, and the second is the very deliberate line, that follows the same path but in a different way.  There is a repetition about the process but also a contrast in the approach, and for me it really helps draw attention and give importance to the parts of the work that are more spontaneous and automatic.

EPSON scanner image
Adding geometric detail in amber ink
EPSON scanner image
Ink detail, with ‘enhanced ‘ graphite lines
EPSON scanner image
Outlining and enhancing with calligraphy ink
EPSON scanner image
Natural ink separation with surface pattern added in fountain pen
EPSON scanner image
Creating solid forms from accidental marks

Mystery Postcard Set

Here’s a few pics of work from 2015 turned into a postcard set.

You can purchase the set online here

Each piece is printed onto 350gsm board and has a postcard layout on the reverse with details about the original piece.  The postcards form an edition of 3500 cards, each card is hand signed by my fair hand and editioned in the left hand corner in pencil.  Furthermore – you can choose a personalised hand drawn envelope for these postcards making them an ideal gift or stocking filler for xmas.  Thanks for following the blog and sorry I’ve been away so long 🙂2015 set smallString Theory PostcardFly PostcardRara Avis postcard

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Uprooted from the Violence of Flowers

Good day in the studio yesterday – after collecting work from the Contemporary Romantics show I got back in the studio just before the heavens opened and finished off a new piece of work.. was a strange drawing experience and one of the more ‘automatic’ drawings I have carried out recently.  Thought I would post it to the blog as I haven’t decided whether it fits with the series ‘Violence of Flowers’ but maybe it works because it is so different to the others.  Most importantly it was a really euphoric experience making the work and I’m keen to share it so here it is!

Moving Studio

Today, I’m gathering up all the odds and ends lying around the house  to take into the new studio, so I’ll sadly leaving Mitre Studios in Walthamstow, a great studio space above the Paekakiriki press run by Matt Mackenzie, wish all the best to Alke, Della, Kirsten and Martin.

The new studio will give a chance to work on some larger ink drawings that I have been thinking about recently.  8 New pieces of paper stretched up and drying so looking forward to a week of submerging myself in the drawings in there.

In 2 days time the digital versions of Parassita and 5 other works will be presented at Art Paris courtesy of Saatchi online

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The original work of Parassita is represented by Eyestorm who will also be showing my new print of Rose at the London Original Print Fair coming up in a few weeks in April.

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Ink_d Gallery Brighton

Great trip down to the south Coast today to see Dan @Ink_d gallery – they are between shows at the moment and preparing for UK renegade potter and leading anarchist Carrie Reichardt representing the Great British Empire as ‘Cruel Britannia’ through her unique anarchic vision.  Still the gallery looks great even in its interim period and well worth a visit for the range of artwork on display.  I had made the trip to talk through some of the newest pieces I had produced and left a couple there with them.. Not sure when they will surface in the gallery but I love what they do there and the range of other artists they represent. I was also signing the piece ‘protection’ which had recently sold and leaving some small postcard pieces – little curio’s which based around ink spills. . . .

Work in progress .. I gots to go

Working on a new piece at the moment but gotta break to go get some frames soon – here’s where it’s at…