Drawing from the sensorial glut of Manila, Frat of the Obese uncovers Manila’s palette and unpicks its imagery and events. The seriality in the works informs the excess present in the metropolis, establishing an uncertainty as to whether this exorbitance is the city gorging itself or the city’s waste. 

Exhibition Dates: 7 April – 30 April 2011

David Griggs’ initial attraction to Manila was that it encompasses a painting culture in both urban and art practices. Perhaps the latter springs from one of the city’s ideas of development which involves “painting over things.” Facades of new establishments, built mostly on concrete, are given a paint finish. At the same time, to mend dilapidated constructions does not mean reconstructing their disintegrated parts but instead involves a decision on giving them a new slather of colour. Overall, Manila is a mural city mapping territories by the surface.

It is in the capital centre that Griggs adopted a more sophisticated, if not new, manner of painting. Drawing from the sensorial glut of Manila, Frat of the Obese uncovers Manila’s palette and unpicks its imagery and events. The seriality in the works informs the excess present in the metropolis, establishing an uncertainty as to whether this exorbitance is the city gorging itself or the city’s waste.

This new series allows neither room to be sparse nor a perspective linear enough to trace how each element harmonizes with another. As with the plywood that alludes to uneven, low-ceilinged spaces in Manila, one rather has to duck through them to realize each painting’s depth.

As much as the works from Frat of the Obese are founded on recurring images from Griggs’ atlas of the place in which he has situated himself to for the last two years, these icons merely form the axis which his language navigates. Painting for him operates more on the syntax of elements – blending incongruous emblems and slogans, making portraits while making a return to basic forms.

—Siddhartha Pérez, 2011


David Griggs has been exhibiting nationally and internationally for over a decade. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at Artspace, Sydney (2007), the Institue of Modern Art, Brisbane (2008); The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2006); and Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne (2004). David Griggs has been selected for numerous significant group exhibitions and biennales including, Painting with a hammer to nail the crotch of civilization, Manila Contemporary, Manila (2010); Bastards of Misrepresenation Doing time on Filipino Time, Freies Museum Berlin (2010); Fluid Zones: Jakarta Biennale, Jakarta, Indonesia (2009); and Primavera, Museum of Contemporary Art (2007). David Griggs is the co-director of LOSTprojects contemporary art space in Manila. In 2008 the Melbourne Art Fair commissioned Griggs to complete the major work, Frog boy’s dissertation into a new karaoke cult. Griggs’ work is held in important Australian public collections, including the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. This will be David Griggs’ first solo exhibition at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery.

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David Griggs Frat of the Obese 1, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 213 x 274 cm; Diptych; enquire
Frat of the Obese 1, 2011
acrylic on canvas
213 x 274 cm; Diptych
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 2, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 213 x 274 cm; Diptych; enquire
Frat of the Obese 2, 2011
acrylic on canvas
213 x 274 cm; Diptych
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 3, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 183 x 137 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 3, 2011
acrylic on canvas
183 x 137 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 4, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 183 x 137 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 4, 2011
acrylic on canvas
183 x 137 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 5, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 183 x 137 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 5, 2011
acrylic on canvas
183 x 137 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 6, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 183 x 137 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 6, 2011
acrylic on canvas
183 x 137 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 7, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 183 x 137 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 7, 2011
acrylic on canvas
183 x 137 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 8, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 183 x 137 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 8, 2011
acrylic on canvas
183 x 137 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 9, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 183 x 137 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 9, 2011
acrylic on canvas
183 x 137 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 10, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 183 x 137 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 10, 2011
acrylic on canvas
183 x 137 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 11, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 183 x 137 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 11, 2011
acrylic on canvas
183 x 137 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 12, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 183 x 137 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 12, 2011
acrylic on canvas
183 x 137 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 13, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 183 x 137 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 13, 2011
acrylic on canvas
183 x 137 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 14, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 110 x 119 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 14, 2011
acrylic on canvas
110 x 119 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 15, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 110 x 119 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 15, 2011
acrylic on canvas
110 x 119 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 16, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 62 x 46.5 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 16, 2011
acrylic on canvas
62 x 46.5 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 17, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 51.5 x 41 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 17, 2011
acrylic on canvas
51.5 x 41 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 18, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 35.5 x 25.5 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 18, 2011
acrylic on canvas
35.5 x 25.5 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 19, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 46.5 x 36 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 19, 2011
acrylic on canvas
46.5 x 36 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 20, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 46.5 x 46.5 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 20, 2011
acrylic on canvas
46.5 x 46.5 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 21, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 41 x 31 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 21, 2011
acrylic on canvas
41 x 31 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 22, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 41 x 31 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 22, 2011
acrylic on canvas
41 x 31 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 23, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 46 x 36 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 23, 2011
acrylic on canvas
46 x 36 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 24, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 41 x 31 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 24, 2011
acrylic on canvas
41 x 31 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 25, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 36.5 x 30.5 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 25, 2011
acrylic on canvas
36.5 x 30.5 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 27, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 46 x 36 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 27, 2011
acrylic on canvas
46 x 36 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 28, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 41 x 31 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 28, 2011
acrylic on canvas
41 x 31 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 29, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 35.5 x 31 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 29, 2011
acrylic on canvas
35.5 x 31 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 30, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 41 x 31 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 30, 2011
acrylic on canvas
41 x 31 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 31, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 41 x 31 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 31, 2011
acrylic on canvas
41 x 31 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 32, 2011; acrylic on canvas; 36 x 31 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 32, 2011
acrylic on canvas
36 x 31 cm
David Griggs Frat of the Obese 33, 2011; 26 x 21 cm; enquire
Frat of the Obese 33, 2011
26 x 21 cm