DAVID GRIGGS
The sky is the safe place
17 February – 11 March 2023

STATION | SYDNEY

STATION is delighted to present our fifth solo exhibition with David Griggs, The sky is the safe place.

David Griggs is best known for his bold, anarchic approach, often conveyed through energetic paintings, highly loaded with colour and imagery. He conflates political imagery, popular and underground cultures and local histories with his own personal narrative to create a constellation of real and imagined spaces that expose the raw, sometimes unsettling, undercurrents of society.

An eight times Archibald Prize finalist, Griggs returns time and again to portraiture as a format to explore the complexities of the human condition. His latest exhibition presents a suite of oil paintings and framed works on paper that continue to disrupt the much-loved genre.

A play with colour and form, the bold and expressive characters of The sky is the safe place can be read as self-portraits. Humorous and often dark, Griggs deliberately simplifies or over-exaggerates some features whist replacing others with flowers, cartoon eyeballs and animalistic qualities. Relentless in his habitual need to create, Griggs embraces the free-flowing repetition of the subject matter as a form of meditative therapy.

Installation Views

Artworks

David Griggs
The Mystic 5 2022
oil on canvas
112.0 × 91.5 cm

David Griggs
The Mystic 4 2022
oil on canvas
112.0 × 91.5 cm

David Griggs
The Mystic 3 2022
oil on canvas
112.0 × 91.5 cm

David Griggs
The Mystic 2 2022
oil on canvas
112.0 × 91.5 cm

David Griggs
The Mystic 1 2022
oil on canvas
112.0 × 91.5 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 26 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 27 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 25 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 24 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 23 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 22 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 21 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 28 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 20 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 19 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 18 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 17 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 16 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 15 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 14 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 12 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 11 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 10 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 9 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 8 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 7 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 6 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 5 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 4 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 3 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 2 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 1 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 30 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm

David Griggs
The sky is the safe place 29 2022
oil pastel on oil rag paper
47.0 × 36.0 × 4.0 cm