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The Invisible Show
2012
Vilma Gold, London
Installation view
In Brian Griffiths’ work traditional
genres of sculpture are re-thought through the assisted readymade
or the fabricated found object. Trading on second-hand ‘conversation
pieces’ and their malleability in terms of evoking imagined
secret histories, Griffiths views art as a means of escape;
a repeated and heroic attempt to leave the here and now and
be transported to other places. His sculptures make their appearances
as distinctive players: whilst a giant bear head, with its roughly
patched concrete surface and painterly graphic face has the
stoic air of a now defunct old school entertainer, a wooden
box with its glimpse of a pair of shiny tan brogue shoes is
enigmatic in its quietness. Elsewhere a twisted and crushed
lump of a car becomes a ludicrous showy beast. For Griffiths,
conceptual rigor is bound up with processes of making, so that
overlooked everyday materials are selected for their potential
in opening unto particular and evocative experiences. He uses
the histories contained in his objects and materials to enquire
into ideas of the flawed and the failed. Objects chosen are
often of a bygone era, once aspirational new commodities now
fallen; superseded and obsolete. He uses a stark bluntness to
ask the viewer to scrutinize received ideals: his objects often
deliberately lack the refinement of ‘good form’.
Blown out of all proportion, they are jammed uncomfortably into
spaces they do not fit, at once fatuous and melancholic. Aspirational,
and yet tragically flawed, Griffiths’ works are charged
with humour, discontent and sadness. |
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The Invisible Show
2012
Vilma Gold, London
Installation view |
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British Art Show 7
2011
Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham
Installation view |
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British Art Show 7
2011
Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham
Installation view |
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Installation view
Beating the Bounds
Art Now, Tate Britain
2009
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Installation view
Beating the Bounds
Art Now, Tate Britain
2009 |
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A Foundation, 2007
Greenland Street
Installation view |
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A Foundation, 2007
Greenland Street
Installation view |
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A Foundation, 2007
Greenland Street
Installation view |
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