Coronavirus: Painting the pandemic with positivity
Australian artist David Griggs, 44, has been painting works inspired by COVID-19 and has decided to keep going until his gym reopens
When did you get your first (of many) tattoos?
My first tattoo was from my high school friend, who is still my best friend today. We would have been 13 or 14. He was a bit of a technical whiz. He just built a tattoo machine in his parents’ shed or something. He tattooed these stupid triangles all around my foot. Because I had never had a tattoo before, I thought the pain was just a normal part of how a tattoo feels. It was excruciating. Years later, when I got so-called professional tattoos, I remember being so scared but then finding it wasn’t painful at all. I remember calling him up and saying “you arsehole!” (laughs).
How did your current series, The Propaganda Paintings, featuring masked figures, bats and other coronavirus symbolism, come to life?
I like to paint in the studio five or six days a week. There was a moment in the first month of the COVID-19 restrictions where I was asking myself, “what am I even doing here? I should be with my family”. But of course you couldn’t even be with your family. I didn’t want to visit my mum, just in case … There is always a hint of humour in my work, the absurdity and the banal. I was watching the news and listening to some of the politicians and was like, “is this for real?”. The way they would talk was absurd and I would just take little notes of something I would hear or read in passing. These little text phrases became the catalyst or the trigger for The Propaganda Paintings.
As well as being at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery and the online iteration of Melbourne Art Fair (via Station Gallery), your work was recently sold in Art Incubator’s COVID-19 Art Project and will be part of FBi Radio’s 2020 Art Auction. How important are pop-up-style initiatives at a time like this?
I usually do the FBi auction every year. The COVID project (where buyers can purchase works from artists for a $950 flat fee) helped a bunch of us make a bit of pocket money to help with the basic stuff; just survival and paying the rent. One of the other artists had her car rego to pay. My three drawings sold pretty fast. The money took a bit of the edge off.
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You spent many years living between Australia and The Philippines. What drew you to the art scene in Manila?
I first went there with a residency through Melbourne University and when I got there I was like, “oh my goodness, this is insane”. The style of painting is very aggressive and there are so many fantastic painters there. I just felt very connected with the painting scene. Three months turned into 10 years. I came back to Sydney a few times and I just kept being drawn back to Manila.
Previously you’ve said that you’re drawn to danger. Does anything scare you?
I have an extreme fear of snakes. Ever since I was little I have had weird snake dreams. Even a snake in the zoo behind glass freaks me out.
Looking back, how did growing up in western Sydney shape your art?
Definitely the skateboarding culture and the graphics that go along with it (influenced me). I was very much aware of a lot of drug and alcohol abuse in the neighbourhood. I always felt like there’s got to be more than that. I guess I had an OK upbringing and my grandmother was also a painter — she took me under her wing and taught me how to do a really good landscape — so there were other things that formed my attitude. As soon as I was 18 I was out of there.
Melbourne Art Fair Digital Viewing Rooms, held June 1-7 (melbourneartfair.com.au); COVID-19 Art Project, until June 3 (artincubator.com.au) and FBi Radio 2020 Art Auction, June 15-26 (fbiradio.com).