July 28 - September 6, 2008
"Wim Noir-Men in Suits"



By Wim Griffith

"Wim Noir-Men in Suits" is the latest and most evocative series by widely acclaimed gay Southern California artist, Wim Griffith. Mr. Griffith, who worked in the film industry in his early career and is now a fine artist, has created a body of work influenced by the early days of Hollywood. “Wim Noir-Men In Suits” is a new collection of original oil paintings inspired by film noir.

This collection of images where figures lingering in shadows suggest a multitude of stories depicts a dark aesthetic. In this gritty world there is cold seduction from the “Man’s Man” demi heroes of the World War II era, and yet, rising with their smoldering, Fine American Tobacco there is the heat generated from an unspoken homoerotic tension between the players.

Wim’s work presents a stylized reality. Through a mix of impressionism and classical realism, this Wim Noir series is Griffith's ultimate in chiaroscuro. Light and shadows behave as their own semi-allegorical characters.

“I have to admit I have a nostalgia for men in suits, added to that the trench coats and fedoras and there is, for me, an instant mystique.”

Mr. Griffith has added to the mystique by purposely giving titles that do not immediately explain the dilemmas. You see a man with a gun pointing it at the chest of another man, yet the title simply reads, “Man with a gun.”

Exhibited in galleries throughout Southern California and the rest of the U.S. Mr. Griffith's fine art includes bronze busts of Bob Newhart, James Gardner, Bill Cosby, Norman Lear, including an almost finished bust of the legendary Dinah Shore for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, in Hollywood and trompe l'oeil murals for Disney's El Capitan Theater and for the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California.

The only public receptions will be on San Pedro's 1st Thursdays Art Walk Nights, August 7 & September 4, 2008 from 7-11 PM ADULTS ONLY (18 and over) "Wim Noir-Men in Suits " can also be seen by appointment.

Please call, 310.833.3633 or flazhalley@aol.com.

Flazh!Alley is located at 1113 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731. Park in the large city parking lot behind the Ramona Bakery at Pacific Ave. & 11th Street. Enter Flazh!Alley from the alley, of course.