About The Artist
A New York City native, Gary Kroman began working independently as a freelance illustrator in 1972. Gary worked extensively for ad agencies and magazines. In 1973 he met with the people at Relix magazine and began illustrating for the magazine. Inspired by Rick Griffin, Kelly and Mouse and most of the San Francisco comic and poster artists of the late sixties and early seventies he created volumes of posters, magazine covers, album cover art and tee shirts.
His posters, most notably the 100 Grateful Dead songs, Sunshine Daydream, Summer of Love 20th year anniversary and Dead Serenade are licensed and sold to various companies in many categories and are still traded and sold all over the world to this day. He has shown most recently at the J. B. Kline Gallery in Lambertville, N.J. and was spotlighted at the Hard Rock Vault’s 30 Years of Grateful Dead Art exhibition at their gallery in Orlando, FL as well as been involved in higher end rock and roll auction houses such as Guernsey’s 40 Years Of Rock and Roll. He is well published and is featured in the Paul Grushkin book “The Art Of Rock” Vol. 1.
After more than 30 years of doing traditional painting and drawing techniques he realized it was getting old and he wanted to experiment with new techniques. Everything seemed so flat. He saw some glass paintings and liked the “floating” aspect of an image seeming to be hanging in space. He then acquired different kinds of glass and played with laying paint on the front and back of the glass and saw more dimensionality occurring. After doing some shows and realizing how fragile the work could be he thought of what might be a good replacement for glass.
His daughter had found some plexiglass and gave it to him, thinking it might be a good idea to try working on it. After working on that one piece he realized what materials and media would work. He then mounted it on a plain white board to lay space between the plexi and the backboard. It seemed to work much better than the glass and the dimensionality became immediately apparent. After creating a few more pieces he began adding textures and different materials for added dimensionality and doing more work on the backboard. Each piece opens a new avenue and asks more questions for the next piece such as what if I add this or that? Or how about a different mounting technique or a mixed media background and lining up the front image more exactly with the back image?
Currently his subject matter is celebrity and what that persona means. The art makes a statement about the particular person. Every new piece goes a little further to enhance the “hanging in space” dimensional view.
His posters, most notably the 100 Grateful Dead songs, Sunshine Daydream, Summer of Love 20th year anniversary and Dead Serenade are licensed and sold to various companies in many categories and are still traded and sold all over the world to this day. He has shown most recently at the J. B. Kline Gallery in Lambertville, N.J. and was spotlighted at the Hard Rock Vault’s 30 Years of Grateful Dead Art exhibition at their gallery in Orlando, FL as well as been involved in higher end rock and roll auction houses such as Guernsey’s 40 Years Of Rock and Roll. He is well published and is featured in the Paul Grushkin book “The Art Of Rock” Vol. 1.
After more than 30 years of doing traditional painting and drawing techniques he realized it was getting old and he wanted to experiment with new techniques. Everything seemed so flat. He saw some glass paintings and liked the “floating” aspect of an image seeming to be hanging in space. He then acquired different kinds of glass and played with laying paint on the front and back of the glass and saw more dimensionality occurring. After doing some shows and realizing how fragile the work could be he thought of what might be a good replacement for glass.
His daughter had found some plexiglass and gave it to him, thinking it might be a good idea to try working on it. After working on that one piece he realized what materials and media would work. He then mounted it on a plain white board to lay space between the plexi and the backboard. It seemed to work much better than the glass and the dimensionality became immediately apparent. After creating a few more pieces he began adding textures and different materials for added dimensionality and doing more work on the backboard. Each piece opens a new avenue and asks more questions for the next piece such as what if I add this or that? Or how about a different mounting technique or a mixed media background and lining up the front image more exactly with the back image?
Currently his subject matter is celebrity and what that persona means. The art makes a statement about the particular person. Every new piece goes a little further to enhance the “hanging in space” dimensional view.