Dreamy Ink by Carne Griffiths

Carne Griffiths’ artwork is born from a love of drawing and the journey of creating an image on the page. Working primarily with calligraphy ink, graphite and liquids, such as tea, brandy, vodka and whisky, he draws and then manipulates the drawn line. After graduating from Maidstone College of Art Carne Griffiths served an apprenticeship and worked as a gold wire embroidery designer for 12 years which is why floral pattern, repetition and flow play a large part in his work.



So here is my attempt (minus the alcohol element)





Franziska Schenk: 



Franziska Schenk, artist in residence at the Schools of Bioscience and Physics at the University of Birmingham, is attempting to overcome this incompatibility by studying the ingenious ways in which a wide range of iridescent effects are created in the animal world. As iridescent ‘pigments’ mirror Nature’s design, biomimetics can offer vital clues on how to convert these novel materials to the painter’s palette. The current research builds on related projects, namely an Arts Council funded residency and show at the National Marine Aquarium at Plymouth (2004-5), and a recent AHRC-funded art and science project. The latter involved a residency at the Natural History Museum in London and collaboration with Professor Andrew Parker, the Museum’s leading expert on iridescence in the natural world.



Expanding on work inspired by the coelacanth, chameleon and cuttlefish, Franziska has now turned her attention to butterflies. Captivated by their ephemeral beauty, fragility and capacity for continuous change, she is developing paintings that oscillate in colour, depending on the light and movement of the viewer. Having worked on adapting colour-shift technology from its inception (circa 2000), gradual emergence and now rapid expansion, the new series marks a further stage in her quest to arrive at ‘chameleonesque’ paintings. 



About Franziska 

Franziska Schenk (BA Art Ed, BA Hons and MA Fine Art) is an artist and lecturer in Fine Art at Birmingham City University. Exhibitions with particular relevance to Interact include: ‘Vibrant 2’ (2006) which formed part of the ‘Colour and Chemistry’ project initiated by Sherborne House, ‘Mantle of Many Colours’ at the National Marine Aquarium Plymouth (2004-5) and ‘Times of Our Lives: Beginnings’ at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester (2000). Other work has been included in group shows across England and in Germany. Awards in support of this research have been received from the Arts Council of England, AHRC and BCU.



Satirist Pawel Kuczyński 

Pawel Kuczynski is a modern satirist who was born in 1976 in Szczecin, in northern Poland near the German border. In 2001 he graduated in Graphic Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan. He worked as an illustrator for several newspapers in Poland honing his skills as a social commentary artist. In 2010, he won 19 awards including 2nd prize in the 49th International Festival of Knokke Cartoon in Heist and 1st prize at the International Cartoon Contest in Croatia; proving the effectiveness his style of visual communication has on public opinion.

Kuczynski’s art is extremely evocative. His drawings always confront the viewer with specific current problems known from the media, but presented in an altogether different form from the more usual cartoon or comic strip style associated with satire. In his surrealistic work, full of visual metaphors and black humor, Kuczynski confronts the viewer with contemporary problems.

He is very committed and hard in his political and social diagnostics. The sad truth about human condition, about social, political and environmental threats takes definite shape and is no longer abstract. Most of his works deal with serious themes such as poverty, greed, politics and finitude. However, the grotesque perspective allows him to tame fear and make unpleasant facts bearable.