ARTWORK (drawing) Memento mori

Tristan Griffin Memento mori Charcoal erasure on paper

In art, mementos mori are artistic or symbolic reminders of mortality. In the European Christian art context, "the expression... developed with the growth of Christianity, which emphasized Heaven, Hell, and salvation of the soul in the afterlife."

Memento mori ("remember that you have to die") is a Latin expression, originating from a practice common in Ancient Rome; as a general came back victorious from a battle, and during his parade ("Triumph") received compliments and honors from the crowd of citizens, he ran the risk of falling victim to haughtiness and delusions of grandeur; to avoid it, a slave stationed behind him would say "Respice post te. Hominem te memento" ( "Look after you [to the time after your death] and remember you're [only] a man."). It was then reused during the medieval period, it is also related to the ars moriendi ("The Art of Dying") and related literature. Memento mori has been an important part of ascetic disciplines as a means of perfecting the character by cultivating detachment and other virtues, and by turning the attention towards the immortality of the soul and the afterlife.

ARTWORK (painting) water droplets

Tristan Griffin water droplets acrylic on paper

This artwork is exploring painterly techniques to emulate the photographic technique of depth of field. In optics, particularly as it relates to film and photography, depth of field (DOF), also called focus range or effective focus range, is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image. Although a lens can precisely focus at only one distance at a time, the decrease in sharpness is gradual on each side of the focused distance, so that within the DOF, the unsharpness is imperceptible under normal viewing conditions.

In some cases, it may be desirable to have the entire image sharp, and a large DOF is appropriate. In other cases, a small DOF may be more effective, emphasizing the subject while de-emphasizing the foreground and background. In cinematography, a large DOF is often called deep focus, and a small DOF is often called shallow focus.

ARTWORK (drawing) Happy Anniversary

Tristan Griffin Happy Anniversary Oil paint, chalk pastel and charcoal on paper

These two incredible people have always been an inspiration to me. They have shown me through their actions and love for one another that no matter how hard times get. Tomorrow the sun will rise and things can only get better.
Thankyou for being yourselves. Thankyou for being there for me.  And I thank god for giving me two amazing parents.

ARTWORK ( painting) Socially acceptable sin

Tristan Griffin  Socially acceptable sin  Oil on board

This work was exhibited at the byron bay arts classic in 2015.
http://www.byroncentre.com.au/portfolio-post/tristan-griffin-socially-acceptable-sin/

ARTWORK (sculpture) Geometric

Tristan Griffin Splice Earthen ware ceramic

Tristan Griffin Splice Earthen ware ceramic

Through the use of ceramics these works explore the techniques of Clifford Last and the geometric form. 

Clifford Frank Last (1918–1991) was an English sculptor. The materials with which Last worked included bronze, slate, wood and aluminium. Using wood as his favoured medium, Last furthered his studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. After he spent fourteen months back in England in 1950–1951, Last’s work took on a more geometrical form. He explored the use of shapes that he believed demonstrated the emotions existing in family groups and then explored subjects such as dualism and Trinity through the manipulation of religious references and symbols.

Last preferred the work to speak for itself and, unless asked, opted not to go into detail. He carved wood such as Jarrah, using, for example, the cruciform shape in relativistic relationships which left interpretation open. One such form could refer to animals, plants, icons, people or groups.

Clifford Last, Metamorphosis I 1984

ARTWORK (painting) The overlooked

These two acrylic paintings were a part of a series which was exploring the "overlooked". The everyday objects and places which form a part of our identity and sense of place.

ARTWORK(painting) Rothko

Acrylic paint, Oil paint and bitchmen on board

This painting was an exploration into the use of bitchmen as paint and into Mark Rothko's abstract painting technique and conceptual intentions.

”Art to me is an anecdote of the spirit,” Rothko said. 

 He loved the abstract for its lack of representation and urged his audience to seek clarity and personal spirituality by projecting their own internal ideas onto his canvas. He revered the ”elimination of all obstacles between the painter and the idea and between the idea and the observer.”

Mark ROTHKO

Latvia 1903 – United States of America 1970

1957 # 20 [Black,brown on maroon' or 'Deep red and black' are alternative titles']

1957

Mark Rothko’s paintings are fields of colour. He reduced his palette in this instance to dark red, brown and black—two different blacks, one washed out and one much stronger. Three blocks of fairly sombre tones float over the field of dark red.

In the early 1950s Rothko employed bright colours in harmonious combinations but in 1957, the year this work was painted, a perceptible shift occurred in his work. Fewer and darker colours were used, reflecting a more limited range of moods, including a preoccupation with death and mortality.

Rothko is an emotional artist, evoking many different feelings in viewers. One of the contradictions of his work is how beautiful the paintings are when he may have been making a despairing gesture about human behaviour. ‘A painting is not a picture of an experience; it is an experience,’ he said.

The layers of thin paint can create a sense of light coming through. One’s appreciation of the apparent depths in the colours is influenced by the way the painting itself is lit, with Rothko himself alternating between bright and dim. The work is not framed but is just stretched canvas, so there is really nothing between the viewer and the paint.

Source: http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail.cfm?IRN=110506&PICTAUS=TRUE