Biography

Martica Griffin is an American artist living in Nashville, Tennessee. She primarily works in abstraction on canvas and paper using a wide variety of mediums including acrylic, oil, collage, plaster and crayon. Her work is characterized by layers of color, lines of gesture and a combination of natural and architectural shapes. Her visual language reflects popular culture as well as history.

Griffin holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. She has done post-graduate work at the School for Visual Arts in New York City and studied and taught with internationally acclaimed artists. Her work resides in various public and private collections. She is represented by galleries across the United States.

Statement

Working in a non-objective format opens up a world of the imagination. I begin each painting with a variety of textures and marks in paint, ink and crayon to activate the surface of the canvas or paper. I create underlying large shapes that are integral to a story or feeling I am trying to capture. Then I begin to add more color and texture until I achieve the feeling I am going after – the unpredictable, the awkward, the beautiful. Using multiple materials allows me to have an easy interchange between painting and drawing. Textures add to a sense of richness, depth and mystery. I hope that the viewer will find a sense of joy, a smile or a feeling of something or somewhere they might have been or wish to go.