Exhibitions

Estabilshed.Phil Griffin, 2018.

Exhibited at:

previously at BrownswordHepworth Gallery

Exhibited at:

Previously shown at Brownsword Hepworth Gallery

“Sunbeam was home for many years, and still feels like home when I walk through its magnificent studios, it is fitting that the Requiem pictures have found a fitting place to rest a while”

Exhibited at:

Sunbeam Studios
Ladbroke Hall, Barlby Road, London W10 6AZ
Web: sunbeamstudios.com

The Artist/Knight is an exhibition with and about artists imbued with the spirit of chivalry and who bring the knight to life in countless incarnations, ranging from gentle irony to unbounded passion.

Curator Joanna De Vos has been on a quest and has created an international exhibition for Gaasbeek Castle of artists who feel themselves to be the heirs of the fiercely passionate company of knights. The works of art lead you into an imaginary world that evokes the mind and soul of the knight, with themes such as the self-portrait of the artist as a knight, the accoutrements and character, the fighting, the game of chess and jousting tournaments, the ardent search for authenticity, the self-denial and strength of will that adorn the heraldic shield (or ‘blazon’). A number of works by artists from the first half of the twentieth century give a historic context to the whole.

The Artist/Knight pays homage to the knight as a figure of style, a poetic icon who gallops through our imagination. A quest to find our better self. An encounter with the incorruptible hero we would all like to be.

With works by Marina Abramovic, Uldus Bakhtiozina, Horia Damian, Robert Devriendt, Davide Dormino, Tracey Emin, Jan Fabre, Laurent Grasso, Phil Griffin, Damien Hirst, Oda Jaune, Kubra Khademi, Meiro Koizumi, Barbara Kruger, Pere Llobera, Kris Martin, Jonathan Meese, Fabien Mérelle, Benjamin Moravec, Eleni Mylonas, Luigi Ontani, Antonis Pittas, Quiet Ensemble, Gabriel Roca, Rob Scholte, Adeela Suleman, Hannelore Van Dijck, Hans Van Houwelingen, Marko Velk, Antonello Viola, voorforvaast fanclub, Andy Wauman and Yoko Ono.

“The Artist/Knight has always been a poetic icon who gallops through our imagination.” – Joanna De Vos

‘To be an artist is to wrestle with the conflicts of vulnerability and power, to be a knight is to reconcile them’

Exhibited at:

Kasteel Van Gasbeek
Web: kasteelvangaasbeek.be/en/events/74/the-artist-knight

Mount Olympus, a 24 hour theatre performance to “Glorify The Cult Of Tragedy” by controversial Flemish Artist Jan Fabre, took 12 months rehearsals with 27 performers to create. The exhibition & companion film feature length art film “Surrender” was shot entirely by hand on a single camera and a crew of one.

The images and movie captured onstage, backstage and in Fabre’s Atelier offer a quiet & intimate glimpse of the working process of one of the wrlds most radical artists.

 “The photos  present painting-like characteristics. and in these works, Phil Griffin successfully combines drama, fragility and stability in an utterly unique manner that is all his own.” De Morgen

The companion and trigger of the exhibition is the film Surrender created during an extended period as artist in residence at Troubleyn.

In this, the photos become moving images. It depicts a wonderful conversation between two artists years. A conversation of revelation, epiphany and precision to the concept of honesty on stage as a life choice, the film is a conversation that is both verbal and non-verbal. Surrender on film and in single art image conveys a feeling of a life: time, (I’m)mortality and the final surrender of man not only to his fears but also to his true potential.

“I believe this Surrender series is about truly giving in to a shared vulnerability. About finding trust in letting go. As a process, I believe that only by offering my own vulnerability will my collaborator offer me their own. This presents in the form of a deep truth shared between us. It is sometimes ephemeral, intangible, even disturbing, but always deeply open. Often the portraits feel like conversations rather than photographs, like feelings rather than pictures. For me, it is the single moment that both I as observer and performer as observed relinquish all power and for one single moment trust in each other completely that our shared truth with all its fear, hope, tragedy and beauty can be revealed.”

– Phil Griffin

Exhibited at:

Keteleer Gallery
Leopoldstraat 57, 2000 Antwerp – Belgium
Web: keteleer.com/exhibitions/past/phil-griffin-surrender