If the law of opposites involves choosing an unorthodox path, then visual artist Kai Griffin’s work could serve as the definitive example. At least, this is one way to understand his creative process that results in colorful, explosive-like works. Kai, who graduated with a BFA from Winthrop University in 2022, defines himself as an elder millennial, a term he finds both humbling and humorous, especially being surrounded by classmates who are from an entirely different generation. “I see where the history, culture, and nuances of life from the 80’s and 90’s meet the millennium, and how people and technology have grown and evolved across the century line. I’ve also witnessed artistic processes and materials declared dead twice in my lifetime—and then return again,” Kai adds.
The fundamental basis for Kai’s work uses opposing paradigms and divergent materials, a vision that was birthed from his intensive curiosity for just about everything the world has to offer, along with a personal desire to do things his own way. Working in the beauty industry in tandem with the fitness and wellness industry, Kai’s interesting range of life experienc- es has afforded him a sense of risk-taking that has manifested in art that is all his own. Using tried and true materials and methods with innovative technology, his work borders on an unexpected outrageousness that is both strikingly beautiful and strangely intriguing. The end result offers a total collision of materials and genres that challenge the viewer to go beyond their understandings of how these materials are typically used. Even further, that juxtaposition offers an enchanting lure—an experience that is the bi-product of Kai’s use of such unexpected amalgamations of material. His chosen mediums, from wood and metal to resin and lucite, are manipulated using laser cutting and etching, CNC routers, and digital methods, producing ingenious, three-dimensional compositions.
Kai is clear that his intent is not to reinvent the wheel, but rather, do simple things really, really well. He notes, “I take, for example, the 600 year-old technique of one-point linear perspective and flip it on its head by utilizing modern materials and processes. Cast acrylic, CNC routers, and laser cutters were not around centuries ago; combining these with techniques from antiquity serves as my nod to the classical and a contribution to the contemporary. While I have an ‘almost’ obsessive need for technical precision and unparalleled quality, at the end of the day my works must be viscerally beautiful— sublime, if you will.”
It is with a rigorous, disciplined intensity that Kai creates, exploring binary couplings and opposing relationships between elements—light and shadow, translucency and opacity, 3 dimensional and 2 dimensional—and the list goes on. These contrasts ring true to the age-old adage that opposites really do attract.
