M I C H E L E  G R I F F I T H S

Contemporary Fine Art Painter

“I aim to engage the viewer in slow looking”

I

 

 

If it is true that ‘all art is autobiographical’, the theatrical aspects of works like this may stem from my acting days as an undergraduate at Cambridge, and the ‘door’ theme from drawing the doorframes a few years later in my Putney bedsit. But ultimately, all my work comes from a much deeper and more mysterious place.

 

Over the past two decades of full time painting, Michèle has had regular solo and group exhibitions. Several works have been selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the Discerning Eye, in the Mall Galleries. In 2015 she completed a commission of eleven large paintings for P&O. She was selected for the 2019 Florence Biennale. Last year, she was chosen for an international group show in Venice and she was shortlisted for Wells Art Contemporary. In 2021 she had a major solo exhibition in Chichester Cathedral: “Darkness into Light”. Frances Spalding and Rowan Williams wrote pieces about this.

 Initially steered towards an academic career, Michèle obtained a joint Honours Degree in Modern and Medieval Languages at Girton College Cambridge, where she also acted and designed a theatre set. Following a Postgraduate MA course in Modern and Cultural Studies in London and a year in Italy, she taught French and German in London Secondary Schools and attended Life Drawing evening classes. In her thirties, she survived a life-threatening operation, and it was while she was in hospital that it became very clear to her that she had to pursue her dream of going to Art School. Art was always her first love and by now she was already doing a 2 year part time Diploma in Painting and Drawing at Putney College of Art and Design. She applied for and obtained a place at Wimbledon College for a full time BA Honours degree course in Fine Art: Painting. Here, with eminent tutors including Prunella Clough, the path was set for her to develop her own unique voice as an abstract painter.

Latest Paintings

Works on Paper

MISCELLANEOUS Paintings

Darkness into Light