Enduring Freedom, Mitch Griffiths
Preferring not to comment explicitly on any one interpretation of his work, Griffiths offers multiple readings and an opportunity both to identify with, and question the iconography which permeates his art. Unlike the work of Nash, Nevinson, Dix or Bacon, Griffiths' paintings do not attempt to convey the visceral terror of mortal combat in sharp discordant angles, contrasting tones and expressive brush work. Instead, more akin to devotional painting of a seventeenth-century Papist Italy, the true strength and efficacy of these paintings lies in their understatement and reservation.
Griffiths' subjects glow softly at the edge of the picture plane, with such carefully observed and surprising detail that the viewer is compelled into contemplation. Through the theatrics of his compositions, Griffiths achieves a sense of twenty-first century history painting, dripping in symbolism, iconography and ancient mythological reference.
'This series looks at ideas I have been having regarding the triumph of the human spirit set in contrast to the more tangible authority held by various institutional or governmental structures of human society. The struggle for power can be found in the everyday rat-race or in the upper echelons of global politics.' - Mitch Griffiths
