DREW GRIFFITHS

Born in February between snowstorms, Drew decided to stay indoors and make art. However, his love of theater, books, visual arts, and sculpture quickly turned into a desire to create his own. Taking early inspiration from comics and their use of intense colors to amp up the story’s emotional content, he began working in the visual arts while writing short fiction. Inspired by a wide range of literary influences, including Toni Morrison, Raymond Carver, and Haruki Murakami, Drew began immersing himself in the world of Warhol, Jasper Johns, Motherwell, and Kandinsky and began developing his visual style while writing his first novellas and obtaining a BFA.

 

He began furiously experimenting with textures and nuance, incorporating wax to create unique textures and modifying the traditional method of encaustics, including setting his first paintings on fire to deepen the textures and pigments. As his style continued to develop, he expanded his visual language through texture, color, and shadow. He added tape, string, and tile to push the boundaries between painting and sculpture. In the last several years, Drew wanted to go further into what a “canvas” could contain and connect to our visceral and subconscious conversations around texture and color. He began bending, shaping, tearing, and building texture with paper. The balance of this bold but delicate structure evokes a strong emotional connection with the audience and forces them to explore and contemplate each surface.