Joseph Griffith is consumed by the act of methodically blending the strange, the contemporary, and odd historical curiosities into an intermingling of visual pleasures. By the mid-80s, his love of science, history, and pop culture left a lifelong impression on Griffith, and so his expression through art began.
Drawing upon the influence of masters like Van Eyck, Trumbull, and Van der Helst, the inspired works of Joseph Griffith are also derived from his odd dreams, each documented in a handmade sketchbook kept by his bedside. Eventually, these splinters of vision become art. His work has been described as postmodern, surreal, and lowbrow. He works in multiple mediums, including traditional paint and clay, as well as digital, and regularly takes part on commercial projects such as museum exhibits and video games.
Over the past decade Griffith has been involved in gallery shows and charity auctions. He is a regular contributor to the Montana Skatepark Association's annual charity auction and was a 2009 British Design & Art Direction Finalist in the Poster Design
Category. His painting "The Surrender" is the subject of art interpretation discussion in public schools and has appeared in several books including Kelly Gallagher's Write Like This. In 2012, he fulfilled a lifelong dream by riding the original Falcor prop from the Neverending Story. The following year, his painting "Barnacles Bark at the Sky" was selected as the official design for the 31st annual Hampton Bay Days. He most recently has created interactive graphics for exhibits at the Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum, the Bullock Texas State History Museum, FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum.
Joseph Griffith has an MFA from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, graduating cum laude, and studied under Shannon Thomas at Weta Digital. He currently lives and works in historical Phoebus, Virginia where he creates art alongside the picturesque Chesapeake Bay.
- bio by Kelli Malella, Metal Blade Records