“The people who love my work, they gravitate toward it because it’s aesthetically pleasing,” he says. Gaffrey, a former chef, is undoubtedly able to whip up a feast for the eyes, especially because he often paints for a live audience. But he recently began creating art that is food for his soul. And he wonders what he might lose or gain in the bargain. “My work started out as paintings to make people really happy and excited,” Gaffrey says of the colorful paintings for which he is known. “It was about trying to make a really beautiful painting. I still try to do that. But I think as I’ve gotten older, it’s evolved into my work having more meaning. I’m challenging myself.” Some months ago Gaffrey began to create art that he calls “contemplative” and more representative of his “authentic self.” Such paintings involve a greater degree of self-exploration both on his part and on that of the viewer. “They don’t jump at you as easily,” Gaffrey says. “You kind of have to go into them a little more. They have poetry in them, and they are based on how I feel, first, as opposed to the aesthetic.” Sculpted Nest, Acrylic on panel, 48” x 48”
JUSTIN GAFFREY
Meditations in Color
by Karen Parr-Moody
P
ainter Justin Gaffrey is currently weighing the high price of beauty like a chef meting out precious saffron threads. For twelve years he has wielded a palette knife to cover canvases with swirls of paint as thick as buttercream frosting. Such visual flights of fancy have included themes as sweet as birds tweeting on Easter—beaches, sunflowers, poppies, and butterflies. Sculpted Butterfly, Acrylic on panel, 48”x 60”
Gaffrey credits his artistic shift to a four-year sojourn into meditation. “As I go deeper and deeper into my meditation, my mind becomes much more clear and aware,” he says. “I go on ten-day meditation retreats and this cultivates a lot of openness, so I see things a lot differently than I used to.” Such works have long quickened the pulses of admirers, who make annual pilgrimages to either of his Florida galleries, one in Seaside and the other in nearby Santa Rosa Beach. Nashville collector J.R. Roper is one such admirer. After discovering Gaffrey’s art years ago while making his usual trek to Seaside, he swooned over a painting he now owns, one that depicts red poppies against a yellow sun and blue sky. “It’s a very thick paint, so it has a lot of depth to it, which gives it a lot of perspective,” Roper says. “I just love the depth perception. When you look at his paintings, they’re almost three-dimensional.”
Equanimity, Acrylic on panel, 48" x 48"
Gaffrey, who is self-taught, cultivated his method of painting with a palette knife after selling his Santa Rosa Beach restaurant, Café Sublime, to pursue art. His is a physical style that is entertaining NashvilleArts.com
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