Bio 

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Quill Griffith studied painting and printmaking in Mexico, after graduating from Auburn University with a BFA in Visual Design in 1969.  In Mexico, Quill received a Master of Fine Arts in 1972 from the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende.

 

After working in advertising in Birmingham, he moved to Atlanta, eventually becoming a computer programmer. For years he programmed computers by day and painted at night. After retiring in 2000, he decided it was time to devote his full energy to painting.  

 

Jackson Pollock has been the major influence on his work.  Additional influences include Duchamp, Dali, Max Ernst, DeKooning and Rothko.  

 

Artist's Statement

The automatism of surrealism and the ideas of Freud and Jung have played a significant role in the development of Quill's creative process.    Each painting starts with color selection, and then proceeds intuitively with drips, splatters and random brush strokes.  

 

Quill avoids intellectual involvement initially, allowing the paint to do what it wants. Certain images appear after the canvas builds up with overlaid colors and texture from multiple over paintings.  

 

At this time begins the process of intellectual involvement, manipulating and enhancing certain images and eliminating others which do not work visually.  The work process flows back and forth from unconscious to conscious manipulation of the image until the entire image is coherent.

 

At this stage he knows that the work is "finished", or at a stopping point.  One more brush stroke and the process must start all over.