MOCA GA / Calendar

Kojo Griffin: At Work was a site-specific installation in the museum’s exhibition space.

Self-taught artist Kojo Griffin studied psychology at Morehouse College in Atlanta, and graduated in 1992. His work was exhibited in the Whitney Biennial 2000 at the Whitney Museum of American Art and Freestyle at The Studio Museum in Harlem, 2001, Both shows were in New York. He has had solo exhibitions at Cheekwood Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, the Tubman African American Museum in Macon, Georgia and the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is represented by the Mitchell-Innes & Nash gallery in New York.

Griffin places his figures, with human-like bodies and animal heads, in the midst of real-life situations involving unresolved emotions of grief, alienation, abuse, rejection and neglect. His anthropomorphic figures are at once playful in form and pained in emotion, often facing acts of violence, acting out in rage, or dealing with loss. Griffin’s work reveals universal behavior and disarms the viewer’s ability to judge the character’s racial identity or social status.

Kojo Griffin’s solo exhibition at MOCA GA provided a unique opportunity for the artist to produce work not confined by the size limitations of a canvas. Although he has drawn directly on walls for previous shows, this was the first occasion for him to create an installation in the entire exhibition space. The public was invited to view the artist and his progress during the 6 week period of his show.