Jonathan Griffin

Los Angeles

Assistant Editor at Frieze

LA-based British art critic. Contributing editor for Frieze, writes for the NYT, the FT, Art Review, Apollo, and others.

Articles

AFIA Board Advocates for Animal Food Industry Issues on Capitol Hill, Installs New Leadership

3 weeks ago | en.engormix.com | Dan Meagher |Susanna Elliott |Julio Contreras |Jonathan Griffin |Victoria Broehm |Brandon Dacey | +2 more

The American Feed Industry Association’s (AFIA) Board of Directors concluded its annual spring meeting in Washington, D.C., last Thursday, where they advocated for key policy priorities impacting the animal food industry on Capitol Hill and conducted other official business, including installing new Board leadership and directors.
The twisting, turning art of Ruth Asawa

3 weeks ago | apollo-magazine.com | Jonathan Griffin

From the June 2025 issue of Apollo. Preview and subscribe here. The black-and-white photograph shows a wood-panelled room with a pitched roof of dark redwood beams. A low table is pushed cosily up against a large brick hearth, and around it several children sit in easy chairs, one reading, others busily engaged in craft activities. At a piano, a girl strokes a cat, while a dog basks in the sunlight that slants across a large rug.
High Winds and Irrepressible Joy at Desert X

1 month ago | frieze.com | Jonathan Griffin

The wind gusted so hard, as my family drew up to Jose Dávila’s sculpture The act of being together (2025), that it blew my young son clean over. The frequently windswept site north of Palm Springs is ideal for the work; as the nearby wind turbines churn, Dávila’s sculpture – 12 giant chunks of white marble, balanced in two-block stacks – is striking in its stillness.
Saint Eom’s psychedelic utopia: The visionary outsider who built a cosmic sanctuary in rural Georgia

1 month ago | worldofinteriors.com | Jonathan Griffin |Rinne Allen

There are still plenty of people in Buena Vista, Georgia, who remember Saint Eom, as Eddie Owens Martin (EOM) called himself following a feverish epiphany in 1935. This led to his rebirth as the emissary of a future race of spiritually advanced, possibly extraterrestrial beings. Until his suicide in 1986 at the age of 77, he lived alone on a mysterious and outlandish property called Pasaquan, hidden by thick bamboo and pine trees a few miles outside town. He was not exactly a recluse, though.
Peter Shire and Ryan Preciado Talk Cups, Memphis, and Making Things That Last

2 months ago | untappedjournal.com | Mark Byrnes |Jonathan Griffin |Peter Shire |Edwin Heathcote

Echo Park, Los Angeles, where the artist and designer Peter Shire was born, in 1947, is a quiet enclave which, around the time of his childhood, was colloquially known as “Red Hill” for its reputation as a haven for left-wingers.
Altadena Artists Picking Up the Pieces

Mar 22, 2025 | nytimes.com | Jonathan Griffin

Image "I can make art anywhere," Knuth says. "I'm not worried about that." Jacobson, 49, worked primarily from home, and lost items from her library of material samples, as well as some vintage furnishings. Knuth considers himself lucky, comparatively. Last July, he signed the lease on a new studio, which was spared from the fire. He had moved nearly all his paintings, sculptures, books and tools out of his garage, where he'd previously worked.
‘Who Made This Mess?’: Paul McCarthy’s Gross-Out AI

Jan 15, 2025 | frieze.com | Jonathan Griffin

Hands everywhere: hands sprouting out of torsos, hands grabbing heads, fingers pushing through soft flesh. There are bloody spatters and sores – ketchup-red – and sauce bottles, too, and sausages, and fantastical beasts that resemble cutesified pig-rats. We’re in a kitchen, then we’re in the woods, then leaves and logs cover the kitchen counter. These deranged scenes are imagined by a machine, though one that has observed and remembered millions of images made by humans.
Los Angeles Wildfires: ‘The Grieving has Barely Begun’

Jan 3, 2025 | frieze.com | Jonathan Griffin

In Los Angeles, it’s earthquakes you tend to worry about most. Even when I moved here, nearly 15 years ago, people back in the UK would ask if I wasn’t concerned by the impending threat of The Big One. In the years that have passed, with only a few mild tremors, the worry has both faded – it’s something you live with – and grown, as the eventual, inevitable release of pressure on the San Andreas Fault draws closer.
With This MoMA Artist, the Painting Does the Talking

Dec 16, 2024 | nytimes.com | Jonathan Griffin

Before Marlon Mullen begins a painting, he likes to tidy his work space. He'll pre-mix his paints - Golden acrylics in recycled pots - and lay out his brushes and canvas on his table. Often, he'll empty the studio's trash cans. Sometimes he'll even sweep the yard outside, or rearrange objects on the studio shelves according to their relation to colors he plans to use in his painting. As I learned when I visited him in Richmond, Calif., one recent rainy morning, this ritual process can take days.
Thomas Wilfred, bright spark

Nov 20, 2024 | apollo-magazine.com | Jonathan Griffin

Lumia Suite, Op. 158 (1963–64; detail), Thomas Wilfred. Museum of Modern Art, New York