Liane Arno gets up close with Ken Griffiths’ enigmatic Mardi Gras 1, the winner of Bass Coast’s top arts prize for 2018. By Liane Arno
THE thing that strikes me when I look at Ken Griffiths' paintings is that there seem to be so many parts to them – almost as though there are stories within stories. So too with his winning entry in the Bass Coast Shire Your Art Collection (YAC), Mardi Gras 1.
Judges Colin Suggett and Kate Zizys announced the winner at the opening of the YAC exhibition at the Inverloch Community Hub last Saturday.
The exhibition includes works from four artists, Ken Griffiths, Mandy Gunn, Adrian Johnson and Karin Murphy-Ellis, who had each won a YAC award during the year.
In the past five years Ken has won three YAC awards. This overall win, however, ensures his place in the shire’s permanent art collection.
Looking closely at the winning painting I can see it is liberally sprinkled with an eclectic collection of people and objects and so I am certain that Ken is trying to tell a story. However, when I quizzed him he quoted Picasso, “If I wanted to put it into words I’d have written a book.”
Undaunted I wanted to know more. I had already done some research. Did you know that Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday? “Of course!” you exclaim to yourselves as you remember first year French – Lundi, Mardi, Mercredi, etc for the days of the week. Mardi Gras is the carnival or festival that occurs on Shrove Tuesday, being the last day of feasting before the fast of Lent.
Mardi Gras is a celebration of life. And so in Ken’s painting it holds all the elements of life – debauchery, fun, come-hither looks, beasts, ghouls, masked watchfulness … and haemorrhoids – but I will leave you to work out where they are.
Ken also told me that Modern art truly began with Cezanne. The subject of the work was less important than the way the piece looked as a whole, the artwork itself became more important than what it depicted. Ken tells me that Mardi Gras became a way to include a whole host of elements in the context of a city. He started by painting a grey field on which he etched in designs making it almost cloisonnistic.
The designs were of experiences, sometimes referring to people he knew. By setting the scene as a mardi gras, Ken is able to portray all sides of life from the humorous and sexy to the personal and even the nasty.
Everyone at the exhibition opening last Saturday, including Mayor Pam Rothfield, was keen to find a place where Bass Coast’s permanent art collection can be viewed by all. The recent announcement that the State Government will hand control of Wonthaggi Secondary College’s McBride campus to the council when the new school is built means that it may be that a home has been found for all the beautiful pieces of art.
There are so many things that I want to write about Ken but, frankly, I can’t do it better than he has done on his own website Ken Griffith Artist. Check it out!
THE thing that strikes me when I look at Ken Griffiths' paintings is that there seem to be so many parts to them – almost as though there are stories within stories. So too with his winning entry in the Bass Coast Shire Your Art Collection (YAC), Mardi Gras 1.
Judges Colin Suggett and Kate Zizys announced the winner at the opening of the YAC exhibition at the Inverloch Community Hub last Saturday.
The exhibition includes works from four artists, Ken Griffiths, Mandy Gunn, Adrian Johnson and Karin Murphy-Ellis, who had each won a YAC award during the year.
In the past five years Ken has won three YAC awards. This overall win, however, ensures his place in the shire’s permanent art collection.
Looking closely at the winning painting I can see it is liberally sprinkled with an eclectic collection of people and objects and so I am certain that Ken is trying to tell a story. However, when I quizzed him he quoted Picasso, “If I wanted to put it into words I’d have written a book.”
Undaunted I wanted to know more. I had already done some research. Did you know that Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday? “Of course!” you exclaim to yourselves as you remember first year French – Lundi, Mardi, Mercredi, etc for the days of the week. Mardi Gras is the carnival or festival that occurs on Shrove Tuesday, being the last day of feasting before the fast of Lent.
Mardi Gras is a celebration of life. And so in Ken’s painting it holds all the elements of life – debauchery, fun, come-hither looks, beasts, ghouls, masked watchfulness … and haemorrhoids – but I will leave you to work out where they are.
Ken also told me that Modern art truly began with Cezanne. The subject of the work was less important than the way the piece looked as a whole, the artwork itself became more important than what it depicted. Ken tells me that Mardi Gras became a way to include a whole host of elements in the context of a city. He started by painting a grey field on which he etched in designs making it almost cloisonnistic.
The designs were of experiences, sometimes referring to people he knew. By setting the scene as a mardi gras, Ken is able to portray all sides of life from the humorous and sexy to the personal and even the nasty.
Everyone at the exhibition opening last Saturday, including Mayor Pam Rothfield, was keen to find a place where Bass Coast’s permanent art collection can be viewed by all. The recent announcement that the State Government will hand control of Wonthaggi Secondary College’s McBride campus to the council when the new school is built means that it may be that a home has been found for all the beautiful pieces of art.
There are so many things that I want to write about Ken but, frankly, I can’t do it better than he has done on his own website Ken Griffith Artist. Check it out!