David Griggs
Dream the universe lie, 2015
Oil on canvas, 61cm x 51cm
Provenance: Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide.
Horror Business #2, 2015
Oil on canvas, 102cm x 76cm
Provenance: Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide.
Australian born and raised, David Griggs now lives and works in Manila where he gains inspiration from the cacophony of the city. His works are energetic with graffiti, demons, tattooed skeletons and religious rituals colliding together - a personal response to the world around him. His bold and anarchistic approach explores the dark underside of the human condition and political world. Griggs has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and South East Asia (1).
Each time Griggs’ works on a project a writes notes to connect himself to his original inspiration. The note for the Horror Business collection, of which Dream the universe lie and Horror Business #4 re apart of, was ‘DON’T TRUST YOUR BRAIN - REBEL MUSIC’. The works in Horror Business are split - half are Gothic and dark, whilst the remainder are bright and vibrant - reflecting the duality of Griggs’ moods. ‘It’s a strange thing for me to see, looking at the palette and the subject matter, that my moods show up in the paintings,” he says, “it’s only really on a deep level that I can understand but I am sure the audience can also feel it in the work.’
Artist Statement
Horror Business is simply about my struggle with depression. I have been dealing with this struggle on and off for 10 years now. It’s difficult and complex to discuss, however it’s something that should be talked about. Depression is an international epidemic. When I’m not doing well, my brain wanders into some dark places. I started the Horror Business paintings as a way to say, “OK! I have to be strong, I have to learn to cope with this ailment, accept it as part of my being”. And I thought, “OK! Some of my irrational thoughts weigh heavy, so I kept a journal to write these thoughts down”, as a way to try and exile them. Then I used the notes I had written to make paintings from. My irrationality is a really powerful thing, because you’re living it daily and then turning it into a vision. Imagining a vision, a thought so vivid that it puts fear right into your heart then trying to have the strength to paint it. It’s scary for me, but I just thought, “No! What I’m going through I should use as a form of therapy, paint it, and if the paintings are morbid or dark then so be it”. Like the painting of the dancing skeletons in a bubble. I had this thought, what if I don’t have any skin? I had come to a place where I felt ready and strong enough to use my own nature as the content in my work. I decided that I should paint in black; grey and white to best capture my own Horror Business (2).