Local artist’s work to be shown in Mexican gallery

CHILLICOTHE – Life and art have taken Abril Andrade Griffith around the world, and now she will get to bring her art a little closer to home.

Griffith spent her childhood years in Mexico and Spain, where she was born and attended college. She came to Chillicothe in 2004 when she married her husband, Matt Griffith, owner of the Two Dollar Pistol Tattoo Shop on Bridge Street. Both artists, her husband uses ink and skin as his canvas, while Griffith said she most often uses paint in her work.

Griffith specializes in a pop surrealism style, but what makes her work unique is the theme of big eyes. The characters in Griffith’s paintings always feature large, round, expressive eyes, which she says are drawing more and more attention worldwide.

“People have said they’ve seen my work in Japan, and Slash wore one of my shirts,” Griffith said.

Griffith does not usually display her work on clothing but said she is working with her brother to get that project going. Her paintings and prints have been on display in many galleries. Locally, she has had shows at the Pump House and Schlegel’s Coffee House, which she said were successful.

Between the showing at Schlegel’s and her Facebook page, Griffith has been selling her art locally and throughout the country. Helping to expand her personal brand, Griffith finalized a deal in June with the Tijuana Cultural Center in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, to exclusively sell some of her work.

“To get there, you usually have to show at a lot of galleries, but I skipped all that, and they asked if I would want to sell prints there.”

Founded in 1982, and located just a few miles from the U.S. border, the gallery is the only infrastructure of the National Council for Culture and the Arts outside of the Mexican capital, according to a translation of the gallery’s website, and saw more than 1 million visitors last year.

“Everybody wants to be there. It’s the biggest gallery in my hometown. ... A lot of my friends have wanted to show there. And to be able to sell work in the gallery there is a dream,” Griffith said.

Griffith said that everything she took with her in June, her most recent trip to Tijuana, has already sold. She plans to send the center more pieces as soon as she can and will continue to sell work privately through her Facebook page.