Somewhere distant, 2018

BD Griffith  

Artist Statement:

Experimentation, curiosity, and a search for profound simplicity define my practice. My paintings, photographs, sculptures, and installations are exhibited nationally and held in permanent museum collections. Throughout my career I have created multiple bodies of work. My Fermata-series paintings shown here are quiet sanctuaries for personal reflection. Painting is my antidote to troubling times, my way of contemplating the nuanced gray areas neglected by our increasingly polarized society. I create fields of light and darkness by staining raw canvas with layer upon layer of diluted acrylic pigments that soak into the fabric. These subtle layers of pigment reveal themselves gradually after several minutes of viewing, bringing the dimension of time to the two-dimensional surface. I also blur the distinction between object and ground to create an ambiguity of space. My intent is to create simple but elusive paintings that beckon a hectic world to slow down, pause, and reflect.

BIOGRAPHY
BD Griffith's work spans painting, photography, sculpture, and installation, often using simple forms and techniques in unexpected ways. His work is held in public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Center for Creative Photography, and Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Griffith's exhibitions include recent or upcoming solo shows at the Fresno Art Museum, Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Griffin Museum of Photography, and Coconino Center for the Arts, along with small-group shows at the Phoenix Art Museum and University of Arizona Museum of Art. He has been featured in Slate, Black & White, Arizona Highways, Diffusion, AZ Lifestyle, Phoenix New Times, and the Arizona Daily Sun.
Before becoming an artist, Griffith earned a degree in engineering and built a successful career with an international management consulting firm, but found his job unfulfilling and was troubled by the environmental impact of his clients. He ultimately resigned to follow his conscience. In order to pursue art full-time, he adopted a simple nomadic life, camping out of an old van and saving every dime for gas and supplies. When Griffith's van broke down in Flagstaff, Arizona, he fell in love with the mountain town—and then his wife—and has called it home ever since. In 2016, Griffith received the Flagstaff Arts Council's Viola Award, the city's highest honor for arts achievement, and was recognized by the Phoenix Art Museum with a Contemporary Forum Artist Grant.

Awards & Distinctions:

SELECT AWARDS
2016 Phoenix Art Museum Contemporary Forum Artist Grant
2016 Flagstaff Arts Council Viola Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts
2016 Arrow Five Years Out Art Challenge, $5000 Finalist Award

SELECT COLLECTIONS
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, Arizona
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona
University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Robert Morris College, Peoria, Illinois
Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon
Visual Chronicle of Portland City Collection, Portland, Oregon
Springfield Civic Purchase Collection, Springfield, Illinois
Wisconsin Education Association Trust, Madison, Wisconsin
Governor's Art Awards, Arizona Citizens for the Arts, Scottsdale, Arizona
Janus Capital Student Art Buying Program, Denver, Colorado
Evans Army Hospital, Fort Carson, Colorado
Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona
Casey Health Institute, Gathersburg, Maryland
Arrow Electronics, Denver, Colorado
Albrecht & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio
Levi Strauss & Co, San Francisco, California

SELECT ART FAIR AWARDS
Saint Louis Art Fair, St. Louis, Missouri
Old Town Art Fair, Chicago, Illinois
Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito, California
Plaza Art Fair, Kansas City, Missouri
Ann Arbor Art Fairs, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival, Reston, Virginia
Scottsdale Arts Festival, Scottsdale, Arizona
La Quinta Arts Festival, La Quinta/Palm Desert, California
Woodlands Fine Arts Festival, The Woodlands, Texas
Krasl Art Fair, St. Joseph, Michigan

Exhibitions:

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021 High Desert Museum, Bend, Oregon
2021 Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, Arizona
2019 Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, California
2017 Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Mesa, Arizona
2016 Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, Arizona
2016 Central Gallery, Phoenix Public Library, Phoenix, Arizona
2015 Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, Massachusetts
2013 Flagstaff Photography Center, Flagstaff, Arizona
2012 Galerie BMG, Woodstock, New York
2012 Shanghai International Photographic Art Exhibition, Shanghai, China
2012 Flagstaff Photography Center, Flagstaff, Arizona
2011 Translations Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2011 Open Shutter Gallery, Durango, Colorado

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 145 Degrees Fahrenheit, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona
2017 Contemporary Forum, Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona
2017 Fires of Change, 516 ARTS, Albuquerque, New Mexico
2017 Works on Paper, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona
2016 Fires of Change, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
2016 Southwestern Invitational, Phoenix Airport Museum and Coconino Center for the Arts, Arizona
2016 Light Sensitive, Art Intersection, Gilbert, Arizona
2015 Fires of Change, Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, Arizona
2015 All Art Arizona, Art Intersection, Gilbert, Arizona
2015 Southwestern Invitational, Prescott College Gallery, Tubac Arts Center, and Yuma Arts Center, Arizona
2014 INFOCUS, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
2014 Approaching the Unreal, Modernbook Gallery, San Francisco, California
2014 Altered Views, Lightbox Gallery, Astoria, Oregon
2014 The National: Contemporary Photography 2014, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana
2013 Photo Forum, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
2013 Extended Photography, Anderson Gallery, Bridgewater State University, Massachusetts
2013 Christina Z. Anderson, BD Griffith, and Michael Puff, Art Intersection, Gilbert, Arizona
2012 Processes & Dreams, Panopticon Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
2012 Crossing Territories, Wall Space, Santa Barbara, California and Wall Space, Seattle, Washington
2012 Alternative Process, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, Colorado

Artistic Influences:

Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Goldsworthy, Robert Irwin, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Mark Rothko, Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, James Turrell