■N
.:N.
NN :.N.̀
Israeli artist
paints a
collage of
modern
history.
Griffit's Trave
S
CARLA JEAN SCHWARTZ SECTION EDITOR
JEWISH NEWS
I
CD
F-
LJJ
LU
£4
.
sraeli artist Joshua Grif-
fit likes to travel in his
paintings and in real life.
A journey last summer
brought him to Detroit,
where he was featured in
the Concours d'Elegance exhibit,
a prestigious world event com-
bining classic automobiles and
art. He was one of 14 artists in-
vited to the international auto-
motive art exhibit held at the
Somerset Collection. Mr. Griffit's
paintings captured one of the
three $1,500 awards of excellence.
His personal journey began in
Tel Aviv, where he was born in
1951. His college training began
with architecture, but then he fo-
cused on art. He received a de-
gree from the Academy of Fine
Arts in Florence, Italy.
His exhibits began in the Old
Jaffa Gallery in Tel Aviv. In the
mid and late-'70s, his work was
showcased throughout Europe.
In the '80s his work traveled
throughout Israel and was fea-
tured in the 1987 Art Expos in
Los Angeles and New York. The
Concours d'Elegance was his first
introduction to Detroit.
Laxly Crane, art director ofAu-
tomobile, an Ann Arbor-based
magazine, interviewed Mr. Grif-
fit in 1991 after viewing his work
in a catalog. Mr. Crane was in-
strumental in inviting him to par-
ticipate in the Concours
d'Elegance.
"He lets us see his passion for
the pure forms of period auto-
mobiles in painted montages of
his other interests: clusters of
toys, agnostic studies of the work
of the great masters of painting,
technical incongruity, and every
conceivable juxtaposition of his
varied interests," wrote Crane in
the 1991 article.
Mr. Griffit's work is unique.
Many of the items he paints he
never has seen. He often relies
on photographs as starting
points. He uses figurines, mod-
els, toys and photos as guides.
His acrylics often resemble a col-
lage. "I'm like the director and I
set the stage," he said.
His paintings are like a histo-
ry book of culture. He includes
picturesque cars, cavalry, nos-
talgic icons and references to fa-
mous painters.
Transportation is a big theme
in his work—cars, trains, ships,
Left: A cavalryman with a classic
Cadillac.
Right: Cherubs and a sailboat accent
this classic De Soto.
Above:Joshua Griffit displayed this
acrylic at Somerset.
motorcycles, boats and even hors-
es. Many of the automobiles he
incorporates in his work are from
the '40s. "I fell in love with the au-
tomobiles of the '40s. They look
very feminine and sexy," he said.
In his early work, cars are the
focal point of his paintings. "The
romantic and elegant magical
beauty of the cars of the past with
their images of organic curves,
the rounded grille openings and
the thigh-like wheelfenders—all
these make them into sculptured
forms," wrote Ran Schechori, for-
mer director of Bezalel Academy
of Art and Design in the intro-
duction of the 1987 catalog.
His 1986 acrylic Opel Admiral
37 is a collage of a man in a suit
standing in front of an Opel Ad-
miral 1937 automobile. In one
corner of the photo, there are bal-
let dancers from the master
painter Degas and in the other
corner there is an Oriental theme
with flowers. 1
Mr. Griffit does not want to be
categorized as an artist who just
deals with automobiles. His lat-
est work is more abstract and he
refers to them as "semi-realistic."
The ballet dancer in his 1993
painting is now surrounded by
non-defined brush strokes. His
latest work juxtaposes splashes
and swirls of color with still-life
objects. In 1994 he is blending
real objects with abstract forms.
The new catalog does not have
the de rigueur introduction by an
art museum director. Instead the
poem "The I is a General Form"
by Yona Wallach introduces the
paintings. This one line from the
poem certainly reflects the art:
"This is liberation from the bonds
of the personal." ❑
The 1995 Concours d'
Elegance will be held August 6
at Meadow Brook Hall.