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New Ink, Tea and Alcohol Portraits by Carne Griffiths

Artist Carne Griffiths has just debuted a powerful new set of work for his show Invisible Lines at Above Second Gallery in Hong Kong. The beautifully messy portraits are made with conventional materials like calligraphy ink and graphite but he also drips liquid onto his works like herbal tea and alcohol. Of course, we're not talking about the kind of alcohol you'd find in your medicine cabinet but the kind you'd find at your local bar like brandy, vodka, gin and whiskey.

Coates and Scarry is curating the solo show that will run from this Thursday, November 22, to December 21. In an interview with them, Griffiths describes why he began working with drinkable liquids. “I had always worked with calligraphy ink and water. It was a glass of brandy that led to the first splash of drinkables on the page, and, like most things I do concerning artwork, it was a chance happening rather than a planned one. Alcohol has a curious effect on ink, taking the color deep into the paper very quickly – it behaves very differently to water and gives permanence to some inks.”

All of the pieces you see here have been created just for this exhibition. As you can see, the work aims to question what connects us to nature as well as to each other.

Above: Speechless
Ink and Tea with Alcohol and Graphite on Watercolour Paper


Unveil
Ink and Tea with Alcohol and Graphite on Watercolour Paper


Refraction
Ink and Tea with Alcohol and Graphite on Watercolour Paper


Immersed
Ink and Tea with Alcohol and Graphite on Watercolour Paper


Destroyed/Reborn
Ink and Tea with Alcohol and Graphite on Watercolour

Coates & Scarry website

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