Mitch Griffiths, The Promised Land. Short Film featuring Lois Winstone, directed by Michael Driscoll and produced by Daphne Wattiez. Paintings include The Promised Land, Flag Girl, The Flag Bearers Daughter and Lady of the Isles.
Griffiths started drawing at a young age and his passion grew quickly. When he was finishing school it became clear that the only career he wanted to pursue was an artistic one, visiting the local college with this in mind. He was offered an unconditional place and completed a Diploma in Graphic Design at South Devon College of Arts & Technology in 1987. At the time graphic design seemed to Griffiths to be the only legitimate way of having a career in art.
He then applied for a Higher National Diploma in Illustration at Southampton Institute. Here, he found the teaching standards very poor and by the end of the course he had become disillusioned about his prospective artistic career. He went off into the world of work, taking any temporary jobs he could find in order to make ends meet while in his spare time working freelance as an illustrator on varied projects from magazine covers to murals.
His first break came unexpectedly. As an avid boxing fan, he painted a portrait in gouache of Chris Eubank and sent a photograph of it to Eubanks agent, Barry Hearn. Soon after, Barry Hearn contacted Griffiths to report that Eubank loved the portrait and that he wanted to use the image to promote his fights. This resulted in Eubank becoming Griffiths patron and for the next three years Griffiths became part of Eubanks entourage, painting many portraits of him and his family and travelling the world with him.
Through Eubank Griffiths met Terry Johnson, an entrepreneur who owned the luxury retreat, Hustyns, in Cornwall where many boxers went to train. Griffiths next appointment was with Johnson who took him on as artist-in-residence and for the next five years he created over 100 paintings to decorate Hustyns. During this time he helped to set up Bishops Philpotts Gallery in Truro, Cornwall, where he held 3 solo shows at the gallery between 2001 and 2002. These shows gave him the impetus he needed to develop his own style and in 2001 he entered himself into the National Portrait Gallery BP Portrait Award with Armoured Heart. This piece was chosen for the promotion poster which resulted in enormous exposure across London.
Griffiths uses a traditional, almost forgotten style of painting, inspired by the light and composition of Old Master paintings, but he uses this style to address the issues and themes of the 21st century. His main concern is the transient and throwaway nature of contemporary society, which is held in stark contrast to the permanence and indelibility of oil paint on canvas.
"Once you paint a MacDonalds burger box in oil paint, it becomes important and immortal. Its a permanent mark of the indispensible."
In order to really hone his style of painting, he totally immersed himself in the culture of the Old Masters. Having had no formal fine art education, he read books on art history, made frequent visits to the National Gallery to study the masterpieces in detail and through toiling in the studio taught himself the art of painting in oil. Griffiths has devoted himself to perfecting his art ever since.
In 2002 he held his first solo show in London; at the Enid Lawson gallery in Kensington. While the exhibition was taking place he visited Halcyon Gallery, which had become one of his favourite galleries to visit whenever he was in London, having been particularly taken by the Robert Lenkiewicz exhibition earlier in the year. He struck up a conversation with a gallery representative and showed them a sketchbook he was carrying which included images of 'Armoured Heart'.
Paul Green, president and founder of Halcyon Gallery subsequently visited the exhibition in Kensington, and two weeks later he contacted Griffiths to discuss the potential for a formal working arrangement. Halcyon Gallery started representing Griffiths permanently in 2004.
Griffiths says: "When someone sees something special in your work, when they share your vision, it galvanizes your self belief in what you're trying to achieve. Working with Halcyon Gallery has given me the opportunity to strive for what is most important to me: to create the best art I can."
His first show at Halcyon Gallery in 2006 was a sell out.
To find out more about the much anticipated exhibition visit www.halcyongallery.com
Loading...
7:49
Mom1. The Underpaintingby coyotecooper2,384 views
Thanks for your comments - Mitch is indeed a talented artist. More info has now been added for those of you who have kindly asked.
Photos from the private view on launch day are on Facebook - search for "Mitch Griffiths Artist".
HalcyonGallery 1 year ago