FOURPLAY
Christopher Griffith, Artist Statement, 2022
Christopher Griffith employs a practice of acute visual simplicity. His work is characterized by vivid constructs of graphic minimalism defined by the communication of ideas in their most reduced forms. The ongoing series FOURPLAY of abstract paintings are ultimately grounded in vocalizations rooted in history, context and personal experience. We live in a new era of incessant social commentary on platforms that were scarcely available a generation ago, resulting in the ever increasing importance of how words are used and interpreted. Words can certainly be used for social enlightenment and education, but equally they have become powerful vehicles for intolerance and misinformation.
Griffith created a highly redacted font that facilitates the merging of positive and negative spaces into what initially appear to be mere geometric shapes that upon further analysis are revealed to be quadrants containing four letter words. The paintings are created using a multitude of impasto techniques that emphasize geometric forms to intentionally distract the eye in order to further veil a paintings hidden identity.
Communication solely through 4 letter words instills agency upon a selected word. The presentation of a single word is intentionally vague with meaning left open to interpretation, challenging a viewer to create context based on personal experience. The intentional confusion over meaning is only further exacerbated by the abstraction of each word into highly reduced geometric forms that are commonly not understood to be words. Disguising in geometric abstraction further enhances the impact of the word and its meaning once it is fully visualized. By questioning potential bias in the use of simple words, FOURPLAY illustrates how the definition of words can be manipulated and in fact changed in the creation of personal and societal narratives, both right and wrong.
Words reference concepts in politics, humor, pop culture and the mundane. Part Pop, part abstraction, part commentary; they are onions to be peeled.