Red Grooms

Red Grooms is an American multimedia artist best known for his colorful pop-art constructions depicting frenetic scenes of modern urban life. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, then at Nashville's Peabody College. In 1956, Grooms moved to New York City, to enroll at the New School for Social Research. A year later, Grooms attended a summer session at the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts in Provincetown, Massachusetts. 

Grooms is recognized as a pioneer of site-specific sculpture and installation art. Grooms's genius for rendering the intricacies of architectural ornament is vividly apparent in a three-dimensional  prospect. These vibrant three-dimensional constructions melded painting and sculpture, to create immersive works of art that invited interaction from the viewer. The pieces were often populated with colorful, cartoon-like characters, from varied walks of life. One of his biggest themes is the use of painting people, often using other artists or their styles to show his appreciation for their works.

As a painter, sculptor, printmaker, filmmaker and theater designer Grooms' career to this point has been prolific. Besides painting and sculpture, Grooms is also known for his prolific printmaking.  His 1973 purchase of a hot-glue gun facilitated several masterpieces of paper sculpture. His graphic works alone includes an array of art forms. He has experimented with numerous techniques, creating woodblock prints, spray-painted stencils, soft-ground etchings, and elaborate three-dimensional lithograph constructions.

Throughout the late 1980's and the mid 1990's Grooms devoted himself to a series of prints and three-dimensional works called New York Stories for which he is well known and admired. For nearly fifty years Grooms has combined color, vibrancy, and a generous dose of self-deprecating humor to produce art in all media that provokes and delights. He pokes fun at the icons of American politics, entertainment, the art world, while paying homage to his subjects at the same time. No artist since Honoré Daumier has had a greater understanding of humor or a more direct connection to his audience. In return, Grooms has earned the public's unqualified admiration and appreciation.