I began my artistic career as a costume designer for the annual Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago.
This background has had a profound influence on my work as a contemporary artist.
My work inherits the essence of Carnival — it is performative, participatory for anyone, and ephemeral. It is grounded in a dialogue between MAS, the artistic element of Trinidad’s Carnival, and art understood as the exploration of embodied, phenomenological experience.
While continually probing fundamental questions about perception, I challenge contemporary culture without relying on traditional artistic methods. I go beyond the concept of MAS to reveal its true nature, while simultaneously weaving new images and narratives — critically and poetically responding to our socio-cultural environment.
MARLON GRIFFITH
マーロン・グリフィス（1976-）
Marlon GRIFFITH
Marlon Griffith is an artist from Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Since 2004, he has created and exhibited works combining visual art and public performance in various countries around the world. Since moving to Nagoya in 2009, Griffith has developed a strong unique style by incorporating not only the cultural and environmental characteristics of his homeland but also various aspects of Japanese culture. His work is recognized for its high quality and distinctiveness.
Profile
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2004: Johannesburg (Bag Factory / Fordsburg Artists Studios)
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2005: Mino City, Gifu Prefecture (Mino Paper Art Village Project)
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2007: Jamaica (Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts)
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2010-11: Bahamas (Popop Studios, Nassau)
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2011: New York (Art Omi, Ghent, New York) Artist Residency
Major International Exhibitions
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2008: 7th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea
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2009: Cape Town Biennale (CAPE09), South Africa
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2009: Toronto (South-South: Interruptions & Encounters)
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2010: Miami (Global Caribbean)
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2011: Washington (Wrestling with the Image: Caribbean Interventions, Art Museum of the Americas)
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2011: Champaign (Krannert Art Museum)
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2012: MANIFESTA 9 Parallel Projects, Hasselt, Belgium
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2014: Tate Modern, UK
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2014: Art Gallery of York University (AGYU), UK
Awards
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2010: John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
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Commonwealth Award recipient
Residence
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Since 2009: Based in Nagoya, Japan
Exhibition / SHUMOKU GALLERY
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2016: SPUR
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2017: Group Exhibition
About SPUR
SPUR is the first work Marlon Griffith created after relocating to Japan. It was produced during his residency in New York. The work features a traditional farming tool used to be attached to horses or oxen to till the soil. Griffith straps the tool to his feet and continuously draws circles, a movement reminiscent of a mantra — people writing and rewriting history, memory, and time.
Through his time as an artist in Japan and his practice of calligraphy, Griffith developed a performance that embodies patience, repetition, and endurance. At the same time, he reexamined new ways of leaving marks in space.
Alongside the performance, monotype works are exhibited in which the human body fuses with tools and machinery, expressing narratives woven through industrialization and societal development.
BOOK
Marlon Griffith / Symbols of Endurance
Black Dog Publishing Ltd / 2018
※ Available for pre-order on Amazon.