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Joe tells us more...

"I have always had the desire to paint, but it wasn't until after I came back from the Gulf War in 1991 that I started painting on a regular basis. After seeing the destruction of so many lives and property, I was searching for the opposite. Painting was the start of reevaluating my priorities, letting the creative side of myself have a larger part in my life, and putting aside the warrior mentality of an infantryman - creating a balance in my life that had not been there before."

Griffith recently retired from the armed forces after twenty years of service and is now focusing his attentions on numerous artistic endeavors.

"The first real life altering shift in my life was when I joined the service and left my hometown in Indiana. I desperately needed structure at that time. Several years ago I found my attention gradually drifting away from the service and more towards artistic ambitions, the army did give me the structure I sought, but now I needed to shift again, to achieve both individual and artistic freedom."

When asked about his influences, Joe shrugs, "Like all painters I have hundreds. Who are my influences? That depends on when you ask me. My influences have evolved and continue to do so."

While in Korea in 1995, Joe spent many months studying local Korean artists and styles. "I would visit many of the small villages looking for local artists. They were everywhere, usually painting in front of their homes or small shops. All were extremely friendly and enjoyed having people watch them at their craft. What I learned from them was the aesthetic reasons for being spontaneous and painting in harmony and not worrying about what people thought of their work. They painted for their own pleasure and satisfaction."

Joe continued studying many different artists and styles, borrowing their approach for a while. "I opened up to Modernism and, after studying the life and works of Jackson Pollock, my eyes opened and have never shut."

Joe's gotten to a point in his painting career where he feels he expresses not only the influences of the Masters, but his own desires and emotions. "For me, music has now become an integral part of creating on canvas, and color is key to setting my emotions." He continues to explore new and varied color combinations, experimenting with different mediums and styles and uses thick strokes of paint or layering to give his canvases depth. His work is constantly in motion, while maintaining a vision of the world that is colorful, beautiful and unique.

One can look at both Griffith's massive output and current activities of painting, sculpture, photography, poetry, and film production and come to the same conclusion: He has become multi-dimensional.

"Some may say 'Stick to one style. That's what the world will remember you for.' I strongly disagree. Sometimes you must look into the past to explore the future. I paint from within. If I choose to paint Abstract Expressionism, abstract surrealism, or mixed media, it is how I feel at that moment. If my work is against the norm - so be it. I will not give in to the norms of the day. So, in that sense, my work could be called revolutionary."

His "action paintings" are constantly in motion - shaped by surreal ideas of his subconscious mind. They are alive with colored scribble, spattered lines moving this way and that, now thickening, now trailing off - not allowing the viewer's eye to rest on any particular area. And while some of his paintings have no images, others have motifs such as the hobgoblins of a child's active imagination in his "Under the Bed".

Joe's artwork has received international recognition by being selected as "Artist Pick of the Week" from Nuvo magazine. He has garnered the Chelsea Global Showcase 2004 Competition - a prestigious, highly respected, juried exhibition prized by collectors and art professionals alike for its vision of Contemporary Masters of the 21st century. One of his paintings is on permanent display in the Indiana Governor's residence, and he's one of only four artists ever chosen to be on permanent exhibition at the Amsterdam Whitney Gallery in Manhattan (New York).