Mitch Griffiths - The Promised Land

The latest exhibition by BP Portrait Award winner Mitch Griffiths uses a painting style reminiscent of the Old Masters to illustrate social issues in contemporary Britain.

With the inflammatory use of the Union Jack a recurring theme, 25 new paintings that make up The Promised Land are guaranteed to spark debate.

Click here or on the image to see portraits from The Promised Land

Griffiths uses a traditional style of painting, inspired by the light and composition of Old Master paintings, but he uses this style to depict the issues concerning 21st-century British society. His main subject is the transient and throwaway nature of contemporary culture, which is held in stark contrast to the permanence and indelibility of oil paint on canvas.

Griffiths says: “Once you paint a MacDonald’s burger box in oil paint, it becomes important and immortal. It’s a permanent mark of the disposable.”

This exhibition references 21st-century Britain and, taking the Union Jack as the recurring theme, it explores the inflammatory nature of what the flag represents alongside what Griffiths perceives to the overriding concerns of today’s society: consumerism and self-obsession followed by the need for redemption.