/ WORK AVAILABLE BY
Michela Griffo
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Michela Griffo (b. 1949) is an artist and activist who came of age on the piers and streets of New York City in the 1950s and ‘60s. She was an early member of the Redstockings and a founding member of Radicalesbians, Lavender Menace and the Gay Liberation Front. She was active in the Civil Rights, Women’s Rights and Gay Rights Movements, working closely with activists such as Yoruba Guzman and radical organizations such as The Young Lords. She risked her life with other queer and lesbian activists on the front lines to pave the way for younger generations to come out and live safe and productive lives. Griffo’s visual art practice is centered on exposing societal injustices and fictional narratives, exploring themes such as the queer and lesbian woman’s experience, as well as childhood trauma and addiction. Her work often uses primary colors to depict familiar scenes, but has also utilized expertly composed muted colors and soft shadows mixed with pencil drawings in order to critique issues of class, sexism, racism and divisive rhetoric that are often not rooted in the reality of our shared experience.
Griffo exhibited widely in the 1970s and 1980s, and has been included in several important queer art shows, such as the seminal traveling group exhibition Art After Stonewall: 1969-1989 (Leslie-Lohman Museum, Columbus Museum, Frost Museum; 2019-2020) and Queer Forms (Katherine Nash Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 2019). Historical exhibitions include those at The Alternative Museum, New York, NY; Soho Center for Visual Artists, New York, NY; Blum Helman Gallery, New York, NY; Josef Gallery, New York, NY; Alexander Milliken, New York, NY; Flint Institute of the Arts, Flint, MI; and, Aldrich Museum for Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT. Recent exhibitions include solo shows at SPOKE Gallery, Boston, MA; Pen + Brush Gallery, New York, NY; and group shows at Leslie-Lohman Museum, New York, NY; Plaxell Gallery, Long Island City, NY; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Housatonic Museum, Bridgeport, CT; Artists Space, New York, NY; Exit Art, New York, NY; Brent Sikkema, New York, NY, James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY; and Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY. Griffo has been interviewed by Mason Funk (Outwords Archive), Andrew Rimby (Ivory Tower Boiler Room) and Mark Lynch (NPR/Boston Public Radio), and has been featured in ArtNews, The Brooklyn Rail, The New York Times, and The Boston Globe. Collections include Treadwell Corporation, Chemical Bank and the Leslie-Lohman Museum. The artist is based in New York.
︎ Inquire
Michela Griffo (b. 1949) is an artist and activist who came of age on the piers and streets of New York City in the 1950s and ‘60s. She was an early member of the Redstockings and a founding member of Radicalesbians, Lavender Menace and the Gay Liberation Front. She was active in the Civil Rights, Women’s Rights and Gay Rights Movements, working closely with activists such as Yoruba Guzman and radical organizations such as The Young Lords. She risked her life with other queer and lesbian activists on the front lines to pave the way for younger generations to come out and live safe and productive lives. Griffo’s visual art practice is centered on exposing societal injustices and fictional narratives, exploring themes such as the queer and lesbian woman’s experience, as well as childhood trauma and addiction. Her work often uses primary colors to depict familiar scenes, but has also utilized expertly composed muted colors and soft shadows mixed with pencil drawings in order to critique issues of class, sexism, racism and divisive rhetoric that are often not rooted in the reality of our shared experience.
Griffo exhibited widely in the 1970s and 1980s, and has been included in several important queer art shows, such as the seminal traveling group exhibition Art After Stonewall: 1969-1989 (Leslie-Lohman Museum, Columbus Museum, Frost Museum; 2019-2020) and Queer Forms (Katherine Nash Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 2019). Historical exhibitions include those at The Alternative Museum, New York, NY; Soho Center for Visual Artists, New York, NY; Blum Helman Gallery, New York, NY; Josef Gallery, New York, NY; Alexander Milliken, New York, NY; Flint Institute of the Arts, Flint, MI; and, Aldrich Museum for Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT. Recent exhibitions include solo shows at SPOKE Gallery, Boston, MA; Pen + Brush Gallery, New York, NY; and group shows at Leslie-Lohman Museum, New York, NY; Plaxell Gallery, Long Island City, NY; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Housatonic Museum, Bridgeport, CT; Artists Space, New York, NY; Exit Art, New York, NY; Brent Sikkema, New York, NY, James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY; and Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY. Griffo has been interviewed by Mason Funk (Outwords Archive), Andrew Rimby (Ivory Tower Boiler Room) and Mark Lynch (NPR/Boston Public Radio), and has been featured in ArtNews, The Brooklyn Rail, The New York Times, and The Boston Globe. Collections include Treadwell Corporation, Chemical Bank and the Leslie-Lohman Museum. The artist is based in New York.