{"id":25400,"date":"2014-04-03T15:12:58","date_gmt":"2014-04-03T21:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=25400"},"modified":"2025-11-09T21:28:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T04:28:55","slug":"cary-griffiths-black-paintings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/cary-griffiths-black-paintings\/","title":{"rendered":"Cary Griffiths’ Black Paintings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"carygriffiths\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \"\"
\n <\/a>\n <\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
\n
\n \"\"
\n <\/a>\n <\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
\n
\n \"\"
\n <\/a>\n <\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
\n
\n \"\"
\n <\/a>\n <\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Vulnerability will be on tap when Art at the Main exhibits Cary Griffiths\u2019 new show April 14th \u2013 May 10th, with an artist\u2019s reception April 18th 6-9pm. While Griffiths is well known for dissonant mood work (read: expressionist abstract),\u00a0Light in a Dark Place<\/em>\u00a0is a risk for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never told people about this dark side,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The collection started with a piece Griffiths worked on for three years because he wasn\u2019t satisfied. In frustration, he painted it black.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what I\u2019ve been searching for,\u201d he remembers feeling, watching light hit the black grooves and shift the color.<\/p>\n

Black nuanced the work. In his living room, the painting changed depending on the height of the sun, and his next seven paintings came within two years. While some have color\u2014an undercurrent of blue or orange\u2014Griffiths craves minimalism, what he calls \u201ccreating mood and rhythm with less and less color, with less and less detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to push the paint,\u201d he says, but he\u2019s also afraid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really putting myself out there and taking a gamble. People might look at me and say,\u00a0oh\u2014you\u2019ve finally lost your marbles.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

And response to this show, how people resonate with his work, feels particularly important. \u201cThese are the culmination of my life\u2019s experiences\u2014everything I\u2019ve learned to date. I struggle to keep this blackness out of myself, and there are times I just let it come, and the paint painting itself is alive, and I go with what\u2019s happened: create grooves and deep pockets to reflect how I\u2019m feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne composition evokes a massive wave of black which, when it crashes, scatters itself,\u201d writes Katharine English, Vice President of the Writers at Work Board and art enthusiast. \u201cBut even as we watch the destruction, the light changes, moves the moment forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Griffiths usually refuses to define paintings by adding titles, he has a rare piece in this show named \u201cShadow Dancing.\u201d \u201cI worked on it for a long time,\u201d he says, \u201cand it especially has a rhythm; I tried to capture the shadows, the soul coming forward and back in depression and sadness.\u201d
\nPainter Terrece Beesley watches a Griffiths canvas move from tar black to blue highlight, from rushing downpour to rising optimism. In a brightly lit room she sees yellows and ochers, strong contrasts, a tumult of variety in Griffiths\u2019 clusters, valleys, and ridges.<\/p>\n

In the negative of light, there is such color.<\/p>\n

The gallery will provide seating for Griffiths\u2019 light watchers and a book for comments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cary Griffiths\u2019\u00a0Light in Dark Places<\/em>\u00a0is on exhibit at Salt Lake\u2019s\u00a0Art at the Main\u00a0<\/a>April 14 \u2013 May 10, with an opening reception during April Gallery Stroll, Friday, April 18, 6-9 pm.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vulnerability will be on tap when Art at the Main exhibits Cary Griffiths\u2019 new show April 14th \u2013 May 10th, with an artist\u2019s reception April 18th 6-9pm. While Griffiths is well known for dissonant mood work (read: expressionist abstract),\u00a0Light in a Dark Place\u00a0is a risk for him. \u201cI\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":848,"featured_media":25401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14],"tags":[310,599],"class_list":["post-25400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibition_reviews","category-visual_arts","tag-art-at-the-main","tag-cary-griffiths"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/carygriffiths.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-06 01:07:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25400"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98180,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25400\/revisions\/98180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}