Artspace

Overview

After regular visits to the Philippines, David Griggs presented Blood on the Streets, a painting and video installation. This work directly responded to his experiences in San Fernando in 2006 during the Holy Cross Crucifixion: Lenten Rites. Representing the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, the event is a highly charged and spiritual encounter where scores of penitents inflict self-flagellations with glass-spiked leather thongs onto their bare flesh.

Griggs's large-scale Holy Cross Crucifixion paintings, installed as billboard like advertisements and in reference to propaganda murals seen around South East Asia, are raw and in your face. Through these works the artist makes a statement about a culture that is immersed in religion and politics and further highlights the divide between rich and poor.