Gryphon HARVARD

Gryphon Harvard recalls that, as a young child, his appreciation for non-fiction made him useful to his peers. Imagination and storytelling however, are what got him out of the quiet confines of his books into a world of adventure with his few early friends.

Today Harvard's expeditions into acrylic, colour and line centre around several core needs: the need to see old stories in new ways, the need to soothe the energies in his midst, and the need to cross the bridge between himself and the world around him, a world he often finds both hilarious and strange.

His work process is deeply rooted in his love of writing; Harvard's 'sketch' book is mostly filled with random thoughts and research. This then gets translated into a silent cacophony of colour, typically in paint or ink where figurative and abstract lines mingle. To him, light, line and colour in an artwork aren't just there to describe the physical, but are also there to capture the unseen.

This is because Harvard believes it's not distance per se, but rather the feelings left uncommunicated, or the memories unshared, that leave us feeling isolated.

It follows then, that space isn't as important as the emotions and experiences it can contain... or draw out. To Harvard, putting art on display is an excuse; An excuse for people to share thoughts that might've otherwise gone unexpressed, so as to help us put up with one another's awkwardnesses until the bridges between us can be crossed.