CHICAGO — Gerald Griffin’s work has graced the walls of world renowned art galleries across the country.
That natural born talent led him to discover the power of art and poetry and the ways it can inspire conversation and even effect social change.
But it all started with a simple doodle during a class at Benitio Juarez High School in Chicago’s Pislen neighborhood.
A school counselor guided Griffin to studio art classes.
“It was just something that was already there,” he said. “When I did my first oil painting, pick whatever you want and I painted my hand. Next thing everyone was standing around my desk like, ‘Where did you learn to pain?!’”
Competitions and a scholarship at the Art Institute followed and overseas trips to world renowned art museums like the Louvre.
But Griffin discovered a need for another narrative.
“There’s always been a consistent absence of a cultural identity from African and African-American people within those venues,” he said. “It’s an historical narrative that is often untold.”
Griffin has told stories of resilience, beauty, struggle, sacrifice and strength in his artwork. And now he’s working on a series of monuments including Barack Obama, a young Frederick Douglas and Jean Baptist Ponte du Sable, a response to the confederate monuments that were removed.
“Instead of tearing down a monument because our story isn’t out there, our story still isn’t out there. Why not add to the narrative?” he said.
Thru poetry, paint and sculpture, Griffin discovered his power to create conversation around difficult topics.
“You can have about any conversation through a piece of art,” he said. “People can drop barriers. And they can stand in front of the art, they can bring their own experience to it. And they can dialogue with it. They can dialogue with you as an artist.”
The concept of promise, potential, value that reverberates throughout the massive former warehouse where Griffin and his wife Frantzie have created their own merchandise mart in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side.
The couple has also founded a nonprofit called Artist Life. Young artists have the opportunity to study and paint for free. At a black-tie gala, they present their work for purchase. Half the proceeds the students keep, the rest is directed to the student’s newly opened bank accounts.
Lauren Jiggetts
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