Welcome to Joseph Giri Artworks.
As you probably realize, this web site contains only a few examples of the hundreds of paintings, sculptures, and murals I've produced over the years. Much of what is here was commissioned work, though it may be heavily influenced by my previous series of works.

All the artwork is copyrighted. I try not to obsess about people "borrowing" my work, though I have had legal dealings with production companies and even city departments that think "if it's out there it's free". I want to thank The California Lawyers for the Arts for their efforts to educate artists and the public about copyright law, and for helping me receive compensation from the above entities.

While I'm thanking people, I'd like to thank Nancy Coleman, who was my 9th grade art teacher at Chamblee High school in Atlanta GA in 1973. My family moved to a farm in Alabama at the end of the school year that I spent studying with Miss Coleman, but her influence was longer lasting than I can ever express here.

Thank you to The San Francisco Academy of Art, for awarding me a Summer study Scholarship in 1976. My senior year I applied from my small town High school, and by the grace of god, I spent the best summer of my youth soaking up Art education in San Francisco.

Thank you to two people at my high school who were responsible for me going to San Francisco. I had a burning inner desire to make art, but little faith or encouragement outside. Tom Malone my school counselor believed art to be a worthy career, and in his subtle way gave me the permission I needed to "cement my resolve". Eloise Edwards was the art instructor, she directed my attention to the application to S.F. If not for her nudge, I would have never dared to hope that I'd stand a chance at a scholarship.

Thank you to my parents, though we had our generational differences, the older I get the more I appreciate my childhood and opportunities you afforded me. Lastly, I'd like to thank all of my friends, clients, and siblings who over the years have validated my existence enough to continue the work. Thank you.

Art Genesis
It seems, attending Parochial school, being bombarded with Icons, where... every good deed was rewarded with a plastic Jesus, or a Glow in the Dark Pieta, etched the world of imagery into me. My brothers and I had a dresser drawer full of statuettes, rosaries, medallions, illustrated prayer cards. I can't count how many hours I was chained to a pew in church, and whiled away the hours studying the sculpted Stations of the Cross, statues of Mary standing on a serpent, or the architecture

Our family relocated to different neighborhoods or towns facilitating my father's career. I went to schools in Atlanta and a couple small towns in Alabama. There were times I regretted moving, and I worry that I got too good at "leaving". I think the changes gave me a broader perspective than spending an entire childhood in one neighborhood. Sometimes I'm shocked at how urbanites know so little about the land, and vise versa. What's even more shocking are people's opinions of areas of the country that they've never lived, or never even visited.

Early on I developed a love for the manual arts, perhaps inspired by my maternal Grandfathers workshop, or working on my paternal Grandfathers farm. I still use skills that I learned working with my fathers construction crews and have a nice garden thanks to his mother's influence. My maternal grandmother made beautiful quilts, and painted.

College was not a seamless straight path. After changing schools three times, spending two years studying Building Science, and generally struggling like hell to work my way through school, I graduated college in 83 with a BFA in Painting and Sculpture from Auburn University.

After college I cut my teeth in the commercial art world designing and building display props/sculpture for fashion store chains. Working in large scale at a fast pace soon evolved into 14 foot revolving sculptures with neon accents for special events. It was great experience, negotiating through the world of drag queen designers, corporate budgets, and trade shows in NY, but not where I wanted to stay.

For the next year or so, I worked free lance, building props and photo styling for advertising agencies and photographers in print advertising. Hitting a slow period, coupled with shoulder surgery, I was compelled to return to CA. and continue my regrettably brief experience there.

In 1987 I moved to LA and spent two years in the Film business as an "art dog" doing special effects, props, and set work. Though I learned much, I soon realized the film business and my goals to create my own body of work were incompatible.

For the last 14 years I've concentrated primarily on Public Art. Murals have provided the bulk of my opportunities, though I've created sculptural works in steel, mixed media, cast concrete, mosaic, and clay for commercial and private clients.

My work ranges from photo realism to completely abstract because.. I can. Years ago when I first moved to LA, a gallery owner who reviewed my portfolio, chastised me for being too stylistically diverse. He wanted to see one style, one series only. Later, after attending major museum retrospectives of some of my favorite artists, I realized the gallery owner was much mistaken. In fact his gallery closed not long after, and I've been self employed, making art for 18 years.

To name the artists I'm most heavily influenced by is dependent on what point in life and during which stage of my work. After experiencing so much of what I considered "academically induced subjectivity" in college, I was thrilled to find the unbridled creativity of the Southern Folk artists such as Mose T. The creative evolution and spirit of African American Jazz musicians has also been a major source of inspiration for me.

Latin America has produced some of the most amazing artists, there are so many American and European greats that are both inspiring and very humbling to study. I think that is one of the things that keeps me in this field. There is no destination, no final product, it's non stop evolution and adaptation, much like any other organism that makes it's contribution to the world and tries not to get swallowed up by bigger organisms in the process.

The biggest difficulty for any business is finding the clients that want to find you. I've been fortunate enough to do major projects for N.A.S.A, the Marriott, Union Bank, Toyota, numerous City Governments, and independent businesses. I've carved a niche out for myself by consistently changing an eyesore of a wall into something that enhances it's surroundings. Changing negatives into positives is a literal and figurative theme in my work

This website is to facilitate further growth personally and professionally, to be able to have contact with people I would have otherwise never met, and to offer reasonably priced Prints and Posters to people that don't need a 14 foot metal sculpture. Thank you for visiting, and please tell your friends about the site, I have two new prints coming out real soon.

Smiles,
Joseph