- Venue
- Four
- Location
The current exhibition at Four can be described as “situated neither in choice of subject nor exact truth, but in a way of feeling" as Charles Baudelaire characterized Romanticism. Griffin's practice is primarily site specific, led by intuition, motivated by place or circumstances; the imagination is tried and true. She confronts the sublimity of untamed nature but leads us to deductive reasoning as to where we should go from here.
'The endless possibilities' with its immediate beauty draws you into the grain of the wood on which it is projected. This DVD projection presents a fawn running around in circles, caught in an endless loop. This seemingly abnormal movement is a common behaviour of animals being held in captivity. This fawn however, has been digitally removed from its natural environment but the action of removal seems to have had a similar effect. 'The endless possibilities' is quite a heart-rending piece. Both the wood and fawn have undergone a process of manufacturing, which has displaced them from their environment and incarcerates them both into their new function.
'An isolated incident' is a pencil drawing of a boulder that sits in the Gallery upon a ledge of electrical conduit positioned at knee height. The boulder in this drawing is singled out from its surroundings. It gives the impression that it could have originated from another work on exhibition, a found photograph of the late 70’s, which is discerningly placed above the door of the gallery. This ‘untitled’ photograph depicting a rainbow is suggestive of a journey undertaken in the quest to find the ethereal. The unknown photographer ventures to capture the moment/ incident having seemingly come upon this place. We can only presume that the photograph was discarded once the photographer realised that a blurry finger in the bottom right corner had forever tainted this event.
'Other peoples photographs' produces a hypnotic effect. The scenes jump from place to place, however the focal point stays at the centre where the sun sets. 'Other peoples photographs' draws you in with a comparable effect of travelling through time and space. This intimate video projection is Griffin's accumulation of JPGs, consisting of sunsets and phases of the moon collected from the web, flashing one after the other. You find yourself immersed until finally you are liberated by the slight pause in the video and it continues its loop.
Another pilgrimage into the unknown 'Lets get lost' is a found print of Yosemite's National Park. This print incorporates an elegantly drawn graphite scaffolding that holds the Hollywood fashioned signage of 'Lets get lost', on top of Yosemite's apex. The words 'Lets get lost' are recognisably taken from a Chet Baker's song. Baker, an American jazz trumpeter, became a leading name in cool jazz in the 1950s. But his success was badly hampered by drug addiction, particularly in the 1960s. He mounted a successful comeback in the'70s, and died after falling from a hotel window. This reference echoes once again the reoccurring theme of idealism's shortcomings in Griffin's work.
