Raphael Griswold, born in 1984 in Boston, MA, earned a BA from Wesleyan University and an MFA from Brooklyn College. His art considers how specific “sites” (defined broadly as places) express military/industrial power through their forms and histories. Griswold works on and with paper to depict images dredged up through a combination of historical research, oral history, and on-site exploration. Although he works in various media, his process is guided by his training as a printmaker and his need to draw. Griswold is fascinated by how image-making processes shape his pictures and how certain tools or materials embed meaning into his work. His work exploits subjects encountered during his daily routines—at home and while casually traveling—to examine how the defense industry leaks into the physical spaces of daily life. Over the last decade, Griswold has been studying sites in and around New York City, where he lives. Recent projects focus on how this geographic region was shaped by evolving military-industrial imperatives via editions of prints that become sculptures, earthworks, outdoor sculptural installations, large collages of layered offset prints, and drawings he creates on his iPhone. Since 2006, Griswold has exhibited work in solo and group shows in the US, Spain, and Belgium. He trained as a fine art printmaker at Wingate Studio in Hinsdale, NH, and worked on projects by artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Shepard Fairey, and Walton Ford. Griswold has been a part-time faculty member at Pratt Institute since 2015, teaching BFA and MFA printmaking and drawing. He considers teaching an extension of his art practice, where his relationships with students and the inquisitive, experimental nature of his courses offer a reciprocal effect to his studio practice. The artist lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
