In 1972 in New York, Griffit was exposed to the first hyper-realist, Malcolm Morley. Morley preferred the term super-realism, as a contrast equivalent to the abstract art movement called suprematism. Between 1977 and 1980, Griffit taught himself the photorealist technique and showed his paintings in the first solo exhibition of hyper-realistic paintings at the Tourel Gallery in 1980. Like the technical process of engraving, hyper-realistic painting is also divided into stages of work, only instead of the stage of engraving on different plates, there is a division into stencils by color, and printing in the press is replaced by painting with an air brush and acrylic paints. Art critic Adam Baruch wrote of his first painting exhibition, “He is, at least for me, free from the need to prove that he came to this genre consequentially, and not because this technique matches his technical abilities.” The paintings in the exhibition resembled enlarged postcards of distant places, with the photograph itself becoming the subject of the painting.

Griffit's transition to hyper-realistic painting and In 1981 curated the exhibition “Realism” at the Tel Aviv Artists House. This group exhibition provided a platform for figurative-realist artists who generally worked outside of the Israeli art scene. Mosheh Ben-Shaul wrote, “Indeed, whatever the opinions are about this special exhibition, this is the first attempt by Israeli painters to present their realist direction together in Israel, sponsored by the Painters' Association.” 

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