Carne Griffiths: Paradoxical Beauty [lamono magazine]
We’ve all accidentally knocked over a mug of tea or a drink, totally drenching, and possibly ruining, a letter or some other such document, but Carne Griffiths has used this perhaps unorthodox method to create his beautifully paradoxical art work. Just last week, on the 16th January, he had a show in London and he is anticipating a number of exhibitions all over the world. Intrigued by his angelic yet slightly eerie portraits, we had the great pleasure of discussing spillages, beauty, and fatherhood with the UK-based artist.
I like the challenge of moving the work forward – also each show has its own flavour and concerns so that keeps things rapidly changing. When you work in such a way there are a lot of accidents that really add to the work and I find myself producing work that under normal pace just wouldn’t happen.
Having had a number of shows in London and around the UK, how do you think the coming exhibits further afield will compare?
I am hoping the work will be well received.  I understand that there are different stylistic concerns within different cultures and that some types of work are more fashionable in certain places but my main concern is to keep doing what I do and creating my own work in my own way.  If it is embraced as part of an exhibition then that is great, if it isn’t then that’s just the way it is but it also opens up challenges.
We understand that you were working as creative director of a gold wire embroidery firm, quite a different line of work to what you’re producing now. How did you make the transition?
It was a difficult decision to make. I loved what I did but I was a part of a process – I would make designs that would then be created, albeit beautifully by someone else… these designs would then be incorporated into clothing designs again by someone else.  I think I wanted to see what would happen if I had full control of the creative process and being an artist allowed me to do this.  I feel I made the right choice though, and the background in embroidery design has given an angle to my work which I feel makes it unique.
Your work, especially ‘Beautiful Decay’, appears to challenge preconceptions of beauty and traditional portraiture. Could you expand on this a little more? What is beauty for you?
Beauty is in unexpected places – the title for the piece came during its creation and was an observation of a part of the drawing that I felt had gone in a bad direction. I intended the piece to be light and airy initially but as with all of my work I allow chance to change the direction.  What was intended to be an almost light and negative space section of the work turned into a very dark area where I had let liquids dry overnight. On coming back to the piece the next day in the studio this dark area dried with some beautiful colour gradations so I decided to add heavy ornamentation.  The colours reminded me of decaying leaves of autumn but they revealed beauty at the same time. The concept of death and decay giving new life is a theme that runs throughout some of my work.
Your work has been likened to dreams and associated with escapism. Do you feel that in creating your art you are somehow escaping to another place outside of reality?
Yes for me creating art is all about abandoning reason for a time.  It explores an almost lucid state of mind mixed with periods of intense concentration; I love the contrast that deliberate pattern has next to impulsive gestural marks. The state of mind where these pieces are made is very real, I think it is just an area we cannot rationalise and comprehend therefore we like to think of it as outside ourselves when really I think these times are when we are most in tune with our own ‘self’.
Aside from escapism, what other positive possibilities do you think art can offer?
I think art has many positive qualities, it has the ability to affect us on a deeply emotional level.  I took my 3 month son and daughter to an exhibition over Xmas and just watched them – how with little or no understanding they were fascinated by images from a range of artists. I was surprised that they would smile at the work and it made me think just how much we can over complicate things sometimes and intellectualise something that works equally well at such an instinctive level.  In the same way I think art made by children offers us an incredible insight into creativity, it relies on impulse and naivety.  It’s fresh and has something that we often lose as adults.
It says on your blog that you were looking for people whom you could draw for the ‘Fig’ exhibition in London. Do you prefer to base your work on strangers or anonymous figures rather than people who are closer to home?
I have now completed the works for Fig.  I made 7 sittings over a period of three days – 2 hours per sitting with one hour drawing the subject facing themselves in the mirror and one hour facing me.  The 2 images are partly superimposed to create a comparison.  Some of the subjects I knew very well, some I met for the first time; some were comfortable looking at their own reflection and some were notably disturbed by having to face themselves for an hour! The work challenged the notion of the self which we present to the world and the self which we think we present. My conclusion was that the project was ultimately flawed as being scrutinised whilst looking in the mirror creates the kind of self awareness that changes a person´s behaviour – it was a good experience though and I am looking forward to sharing the work.
You became the father of twins in September, congratulations! How has, and is, fatherhood impacting on your work, both how much you are able to produce and what you are now producing?
Thank you! Life has changed, and no matter how much people tell you, nothing prepares you for how incredible it is! Lack of sleep suits me fine, it makes that lucid state just a little easier to achieve in the studio! I’m lucky I have such an amazing wife so I can still spend time away creating work.  The studio is close to home so that is also a bonus, if you offered me a few more hours in the day though I would bite your hand off!
Back in July you collaborated with the infamous photographer and publisher Rankin transforming photographs he had taken of his wife, Tuuli, into detailed artworks in your own distinct style. Were you concerned as to how they would be received as the images were so personal to Rankin?
Yes I was delighted to be approached by Rankin to work on the series of images featuring Tuuli and yes it was really daunting. What made it easier is that I was given free reign to make the images my own so really the process was to disassociate from the personalities of Rankin and Tuuli and create an inner world using the imagery provided. I had a lot of fun making those pieces and although they are always referred to as illustrations, I feel that they are more akin to my normal studio practice.
Did the technique of using tea and alcohol in your work come after a mass spillage in the studio?
Almost! – the use of brandy in a painting was the accident that sparked things off, it’s a terrible waste though so tea was a stand in and will be until I can afford to paint with brandy again. The spilling of tea is a regular occurrence however – I am quite haphazard in the studio and work at a frantic pace at that stage of the work, some of my favourite pieces contain accidental spills.
