James Griffin grew up internationally. Born in Canada, he lived in Peru, England and Brazil, as well as the USA. He received a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from Pratt Institute in 1972 and painted illustrations for paperback book covers for 45 years. In that time, he created almost 4000 covers that sold millions of books.

He is represented by three galleries around the US , and has won many awards. His paintings have been featured in numerous solo exhibitions, the most recent of which was the Road To Home, at ArtCenter Manatee, in Bradenton, FL., that contained sixty-five canvases, all created between 2020-2021.

This body of work featured some of his most bold and powerful work to date, created in isolation and in a period when the artist had lost the sight in one eye. In a remarkable act of defiance against that adversity, he invented a new style, perhaps made more urgent by this condition. He has said that he works from experience and inner vision, more than visual accuracy.

His paintings appear somewhat representational when seen from a distance. Up close, the illusion of realism dissolves into a flurry of brush strokes, scrapings and markings that have a life of their own. The discipline of realism is always in the background, no matter how exuberant and expressive the work becomes.

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