November 27, 2025
Michela Griffo
Who’s Laughing Now?
Moskowitz Bayse
November 8 - December 20, 2025
Michela Griffo
Michela Griffo was born in Rochester, NY 1949. After leaving home at sixteen, she studied at the University of Michigan and later received a MFA in photography from Pratt Institute in New York. Perhaps better known an activist, than an artist, Griffo was involved in the Civil Rights Movement and dedicated to championing rights for women and gays. She came out as a lesbian in 1970, but early in her career she had difficulties sharing her lesbian identity in the art world, as she was troubled by what that association would do to her career (at that time the art world was misogynist and lesbian-phobic). She later allowed her LGBTQ identity to filter into her artworks.
An astute observer and social critic, Griffo created artworks that challenged accepted norms, often using imagery from popular culture to invert expected scenarios and relationships. On view at Moskowitz Bayse are a series of thoughtful and evocative paintings that juxtapose flatly rendered Disney characters in saturated colors with more subtle and soft-edged graphite drawings against a white background. These two images are conceptually linked by a black and white comic strip that covers a portion of each and is positioned toward the top of the painting.
Sleeping Beauty Awakens (2006) includes a five panel comic about teenage girls as the most dangerous feminists yet. Within the sequence, the middle panel states, "Your generation kissed each other to turn boys on. We kiss each other because it feels good." Two women smiling and embracing are featured. The graphite panel (always on the left side of the image) is a delicate rendering of two girls face to face. One stares into what would be the face of the other, but it is obscured by long strands of hair and a cowboy hat. What is unique about these drawings is Griffo's use of blank space. She leaves abundant white around the figures so that viewers can complete the image in their minds. In the painted panel, innocent creatures — chipmunks, squirrels, etc. — gleefully play on top of red mushrooms with white dots in a grassy foreground. Above them, a careful rendition of Disney's Cinderella watches in awe as Sleeping Beauty kisses Snow White on the lips.
Tonya and Nancy (2005) uses an iconic 1994 newspaper image to create a graphite drawing of Olympic ice skater Tonya Harding. This is paired with a painting of Cinderella being attacked by one of her evil stepsisters pulling at the ribbons in her hair and around her waist. The comic strip at the top of the image begins with the text: "Harding had it all," and ends with, "Life is Funny. Sure she won the gold… But in the end we all lost." In the remaining panels, Griffo expounds on issues relating to talent and class. As in many of Griffo's paintings, she suggests parallels and creates connections between cartoons and real-life dramas.
Virtuoso on the Titanic (2012) features a realistically rendered pencil drawing of a teenaged boy playing the violin. His eyes are closed and his hair is drenched in sweat as he is consumed by the activity. In the image culled from Disney, Mickey Mouse is positioned with a violin at the base of the stairs in a grand room. He smiles as he moves the bow across the instrument while large black musical notes float upwards. In the comic, Griffo contrasts a panel with a musician playing Bach's Chaconne in a metro station before a small audience with a comment about the music played during the sinking of the Titanic. It concludes with the statement: "When the capacity to appreciate beauty becomes irrelevant… What else have we lost?"
Although the diptychs that make up Who’s Laughing Now? were created between 2005 and 2013, the themes and issues illustrated and expressed still resonate today. While Griffo might not be a household name to many in the art world, she is a well known activist and leader in the LGBTQ movement. This is the first presentation of these pieces in Los Angeles and a rare opportunity to get to know an artist whose pieces resonate on multiple levels.
Who’s Laughing Now?
Moskowitz Bayse
November 8 - December 20, 2025
Michela Griffo
Michela Griffo was born in Rochester, NY 1949. After leaving home at sixteen, she studied at the University of Michigan and later received a MFA in photography from Pratt Institute in New York. Perhaps better known an activist, than an artist, Griffo was involved in the Civil Rights Movement and dedicated to championing rights for women and gays. She came out as a lesbian in 1970, but early in her career she had difficulties sharing her lesbian identity in the art world, as she was troubled by what that association would do to her career (at that time the art world was misogynist and lesbian-phobic). She later allowed her LGBTQ identity to filter into her artworks.
An astute observer and social critic, Griffo created artworks that challenged accepted norms, often using imagery from popular culture to invert expected scenarios and relationships. On view at Moskowitz Bayse are a series of thoughtful and evocative paintings that juxtapose flatly rendered Disney characters in saturated colors with more subtle and soft-edged graphite drawings against a white background. These two images are conceptually linked by a black and white comic strip that covers a portion of each and is positioned toward the top of the painting.
Sleeping Beauty Awakens (2006) includes a five panel comic about teenage girls as the most dangerous feminists yet. Within the sequence, the middle panel states, "Your generation kissed each other to turn boys on. We kiss each other because it feels good." Two women smiling and embracing are featured. The graphite panel (always on the left side of the image) is a delicate rendering of two girls face to face. One stares into what would be the face of the other, but it is obscured by long strands of hair and a cowboy hat. What is unique about these drawings is Griffo's use of blank space. She leaves abundant white around the figures so that viewers can complete the image in their minds. In the painted panel, innocent creatures — chipmunks, squirrels, etc. — gleefully play on top of red mushrooms with white dots in a grassy foreground. Above them, a careful rendition of Disney's Cinderella watches in awe as Sleeping Beauty kisses Snow White on the lips.
Tonya and Nancy (2005) uses an iconic 1994 newspaper image to create a graphite drawing of Olympic ice skater Tonya Harding. This is paired with a painting of Cinderella being attacked by one of her evil stepsisters pulling at the ribbons in her hair and around her waist. The comic strip at the top of the image begins with the text: "Harding had it all," and ends with, "Life is Funny. Sure she won the gold… But in the end we all lost." In the remaining panels, Griffo expounds on issues relating to talent and class. As in many of Griffo's paintings, she suggests parallels and creates connections between cartoons and real-life dramas.
Virtuoso on the Titanic (2012) features a realistically rendered pencil drawing of a teenaged boy playing the violin. His eyes are closed and his hair is drenched in sweat as he is consumed by the activity. In the image culled from Disney, Mickey Mouse is positioned with a violin at the base of the stairs in a grand room. He smiles as he moves the bow across the instrument while large black musical notes float upwards. In the comic, Griffo contrasts a panel with a musician playing Bach's Chaconne in a metro station before a small audience with a comment about the music played during the sinking of the Titanic. It concludes with the statement: "When the capacity to appreciate beauty becomes irrelevant… What else have we lost?"
Although the diptychs that make up Who’s Laughing Now? were created between 2005 and 2013, the themes and issues illustrated and expressed still resonate today. While Griffo might not be a household name to many in the art world, she is a well known activist and leader in the LGBTQ movement. This is the first presentation of these pieces in Los Angeles and a rare opportunity to get to know an artist whose pieces resonate on multiple levels.