Carne Griffiths’ approach to a new work is unique and very much comparable to setting out on a physical and spiritual journey where the build-up of excitement, expectation and preparation plays a vital part. Where other artists may see the brush and paint merely as tools, Griffiths forms an almost devotional relation to the teas, inks, graphite pens as well as the thick watercolour paper, before embarking on an artwork. Brewing the South-African Rooibos tea, yielding brown washed colours when painting, or stretching the heavy Bockingford paper to make it more receptable to the pigments, is not a rushed process to the artist. It is a moment to connect and reflect before making the first mark.

The slow and subtle process Griffiths goes through for each work can also tell us about his artistic journey. After his teenage years in New Zeeland, where he and his family moved to at the age of nine, Griffith returned to the United Kingdom in the nineties to study. At Kent Institute of Art and Design in Maidstone (today UCA), a town south-east of London, he started doing lots of large pencil drawings and stop-frame pieces for animation; work aimed for a commercial career in illustration. Gradually progressing and with the support and endorsement from the teachers, that each student should follow their own path, the artist laid the foundation for what later would become his unique artistic practice.

After graduation Griffith moved to London and trained as a gold wire embroider and designer, drawing and creating hand-crafted costumes and items at one of the country’s most renowned companies within this field, Hand & Lock; a company with a history going back to the mid-18th century. Here, Griffiths worked alongside craftsmen with decades of experience in their field and became part of a team creating stunning creations for West-End theatre productions, luxury fashion houses, ceremonial dress for the Royal Army and the Royal Family. In 2010, after twelve year of experience at Hand & Lock, Carne Griffiths decided to set up his fine art practice at his own studio in London.

Griffiths’ work is a multi-faceted process, starting with a personal and spiritual connection to the tools and the formation of the work. From a preferred subject matter of floral forms and human portraiture, he uses a sketch or a photograph as reference; a reference which is open interpretation, allowing the composition to seamlessly take an organic form as he builds the layers of the work. Various sorts of teas provide an earthy colour palette, calligraphic inks are used for markings, outlines and line-drawings - and hot liquids are splashed on the paper to soften down or washing-out desired areas. His free use of methods and tools creates works which are a unique and intriguing.

In The Escape, a work on paper from 2014, Griffith was influenced by a series photographs of Sophie Benjamin, the daughter of a close friend. As with many of his works the artist is forming a relationship between the subject and the natural world. It is a relationship he enjoys exploring and runs deep in his practice. In this work the portrait of the young woman is emerging, almost ascending, from a white unclaimed backdrop, looking straight ahead at the viewer; a look beyond pieces of shards of glass indicating a broken barrier between her and her desires. On one side of her face, her hair is intertwined with small flowers - and elsewhere it extends into thin grassy leaves and stems. A few locks of the wavery hair elevates, like antlers, bringing an energy to her appearance.

The six-colour screenprint compliments Griffiths methodology and is similar to the process when the artist is painting his original pieces. The portrait is built of layers, starting from graphite-gray shadows defining the facial structures - and then adding detailing lines in terracotta brown and burgundy red. To balance the earthy palette, Griffiths uses an electric icy-blue colour for the shards of glass, signalling an burst of hidden energy. His desire is to instill a rawness and an energy, often visualised with rays of thin parallel lines, that capture the essence of what he wishes to project in the image.

After the release of new original work later that year, works which saw him experimenting with embroidery, Griffiths revisited The Escape. This led to a unique and small print edition titled The Great Escape. Using silk threads in colours matching the tone and feel of the screenprinted inks, the added embroidery brings a new dimension and intensity to the work. At the top of the piece, weaving in and out amongst the Medusa-esque elevated locks of hair, a curved cross pattern in lime-green thread can be seen, interjected by six strong vertical lines in orange. At closer look, small pieces of shards, in dark sea blue and a Curly Wurly green, have been sewn in just below the chin, tumbling down past the neck towards the shoulders alongside fan-like shapes in the same burgundy red as the printed ink.

Working from his own studio in 2010, Griffiths’ newfound focus quickly resulted in several solo and group shows - and in the past decade his work has been widely exhibited, finding a loyal audience in Europa, United States and Asia. In 2012 he worked in a collaboration with celebrated British photographer Rankin for Hunger Magazine.

Eyestorm released two print editions in an exclusive collaboration with Carne Griffiths from 2014. The Escape is a six-colour screenprint in an edition of 50 - and the following year a unique and hand-embroidered edition of 10 was released, titled The Great Escape. Both print editions are signed and numbered on front by the artist.

You can find more information about the two print editions, The Escape and The Great Escape on Carne Griffiths artist page here.