BIOGRAPHY

     Griffin Flannery is a painter and translator from Houston, Texas. He is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, pursuing a degree in Studio Art and Classical Humanities & Languages. Griffin’s work typically engages with Greco-Roman themes, whether it be through myth, sculpture, or any of the various themes and cultural elements present in the ancient world. In addition, he is studying the Ancient Greek language and delving into creative expression through the translation of Ancient Greek poetry. 

     By combining the fields of art and classics, Griffin aims to unite verbal and visual languages, creating work that celebrates the beauty of communication and culture.

     As of January 2025, Griffin is applying to master’s programs at King’s College London and the University of Cambridge, specializing in Classical Art & Archaeology or Classics, respectively. He plans to focus on Ancient Greek Art, with a particular interest in craft production, while also engaging in supporting fields such as Ancient Greek language and epigraphy.

 

 

     

     My art combines classical academia and contemporary art to bridge the divide between verbal and visual language, improve the accessibility of classical scholarship, and recontextualize ancient ideas for a modern world. Through painting and occasional additions of craft materials, I investigate themes of “Greekness” and readaptation, which align with the ideas presented in reception theory.

     My process begins with the story, whatever interest that has been on my mind when studying classical art and archaeology. I see extremely detailed and vivid scenes when I am exploring these things. I think about these fanciful scenes, full of divinity, drama, and mortality, and hope that I can demonstrate how I imagine these stories to others

     With my art as an instrument, I am receiving the Greek oral tradition and translating it into the modern world’s favored visual tradition. 

     Furthermore, with my art, I am pushing this identity of art as a language, a universal one, which communicates entire ideas, principles, and aspects of culture without the use of words. And with language comes an etymological history; thus, with my art, I explore how the iconography and context can drastically influence and change the way things are interpreted. Put simply, I bring ancient stories, an ancient sense of “Greekness” to a modern audience for their viewing pleasure, for their interpretation and contemplation.