James Griffith has been working as a painter in Los Angeles since 1981. He received his MFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena where he also taught painting and drawing. His paintings have been shown in many galleries in California and are in collections around the world.
In recent years, James has made a shift from working with traditional oil paints to painting with non-traditional materials such as tar from the La Brea Tar Pits, pollen, volcanic dust, human ash, and various chemicals he finds either in nature or under the kitchen sink. The subject of his painting has always been humanity’s relationship with Nature. Currently he is producing a series of tar paintings called “Natural Selection” in which he makes a poetic interpretation of Nature after the theory of evolution.
In recent years, James has made a shift from working with traditional oil paints to painting with non-traditional materials such as tar from the La Brea Tar Pits, pollen, volcanic dust, human ash, and various chemicals he finds either in nature or under the kitchen sink. The subject of his painting has always been humanity’s relationship with Nature. Currently he is producing a series of tar paintings called “Natural Selection” in which he makes a poetic interpretation of Nature after the theory of evolution.