The more artist Christopher Griffin creates, the more cha-ching it means for Ottawa charities

Christopher Griffin isn't going to let financial success get in the way of his becoming the best artist he could be.

After years of learning his craft, he's become one of the most visible and successful artists working in Ottawa today.

You might have seen images of whales, owls, turtles, fish and raccoons etched into wet concrete on the side of a house or streets like a primitive cave painting; a pair of alarmingly large hawks perched on the Bronson Street bridge, or rhinos painted over graffiti on the Bayswater underpass.

During one of the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, the community-minded Griffin organized weekly auctions of his art to raise money for the Ottawa Food Bank. Every week from Thanksgiving to New Years, he auctions off original art.

He's raised $65,000 for the food bank and hasn't taken a cent.

“I do it for the food bank, because I wanted to help, and know my work has value,” he explains. “I thought I could go one of two ways: volunteer to box groceries for six hours or raise money for the bank. When in my life could I ever donate $65,000? Never — but that's how much I've raised. It's amazing.”

Largely self-taught and improvisational, a teenaged Griffin didn't know what he wanted to do for a living — or more accurately, he knew he wanted to be an artist but realized his career choice would be unpopular with his father, who wanted him to take over the family plumbing business.

Instead, he bit the bullet, turned down the family business, took graphic design at Sheridan College and landed his first job designing jacket covers for paperback books.

After a move to Ottawa, Griffin and his then-wife bought a house on Pretoria Avenue. Unable to afford renovations on the brickwork, he lathered the building exterior with concrete and etched it with eye-catching images of whales.

Griffin couldn't have generated more interest in his work if he had put it on a billboard on Highway 417.

And he's leveraged that success to help local charities around the city, raising money for places like the Ottawa Food Bank with every stroke of a brush he makes.

Word of Griffin's concrete mural soon spread and commissions poured in to do home exteriors, fireplaces and restaurants.

Suddenly, he was recognizable. A visual brand.

The story doesn't end there. One day, a graffiti artist tagged one of his murals. Rather than call the city to complain, Griffin improvised, and turned the tag into a painting of a horse.

Suddenly, every tag Griffin saw was an opportunity to make new art and beautify the community, though not everyone was on board.

The city had painted-out tags on the underpass at Bayswater with blocks of grey paint. Griffin saw an opportunity, and with a brush and can of matching paint in hand, he transformed them into a herd of rhinos. A week later, someone complained and the city painted over his rhinos.

A week later, a determined Griffin repainted the rhinos over the grey paint again. This time, it lasted two weeks. On his third go, the cops arrived with a complaining neighbour in tow. The cop took one look at Griffin's artistic transformation and let him finish his work.

Ironically, Griffin's rhino mural — the very one he risked civil disobedience charges for — won an Ottawa Urban Design Award. The MPP for Hintonburg congratulated him and the publicity led to similar projects at the Airport, the Convention Centre and a library, which also won OUDA awards.

“It all started innocently enough,” he says. “I didn't see the point of leaving ugly grey blocks of paint when I could turn them into something beautiful.”

He also does more conventional work, oils, drawings and sculptures, which he displays and sells on his website www.christophergriffin.ca

In addition to tarting up the city, Griffin's random acts of infrastructure beautification also built awareness of Griffin's concrete and graffiti work. He published a book on the subject. Today, he receives commissions from around the world to transform graffiti into unique street art.

“I love creating something other people will appreciate,” he says. “But as an artist, I like creating new things. I've never done anything just for the money. I know whales and canoe paintings are going to sell well, but if that was all I did, I wouldn't be happy. Creating is really rewarding.”

He adds, “Ottawa's been great to me. Had I stayed in Toronto, I never would have applied to do public art. I'm more successful than I ever imagined.”