I wrote about artist James Griffith’s Natural Selection series here, as he was preparing for that show, and have heard now that he’s off in a new direction for a show to be held sometime in 2014. Something to do with glass perhaps? Very intriguing. Still, I can’t quite let go of the Natural Selection series and wanted to grace the pages of the blog again with a few of those images. Must be infuriating for artists to have their audience cling to old work (“Why don’t you paint another Starry Night, dude?”)
“Now, as I paint images of contemporary nature in a medium such as tar, the image is re-framed with an awareness of this moment’s ancient provenance. It underscores its place in time. The ‘painted moment’ can be seen as a brief segment in a vast fluid process we call Nature.”
— James Griffith, “Natural Selection”
Dark Wings – Finch, Tar on Panel
Crow and Tool, Tar, copper sulphate on panel
Young Crows – Natural Selection, Tar, Pollen, Human Ash
For information on future work or availability of paintings from the Natural Selection series, contact James Griffith at james.griffith4@gmail.com.
I loved these the first time you showed them and I’m taken again with the beauty of the limited palette and gorgeous rendering.
Jane, it’ll be interesting to see what James is up to now. From tar to….?