Artist Garry Grant, goes for gold by fusing ancient techniques and modern influences

Artist and gold leaf guilder Garry Grant, comes from a large family of artists. These include his father and older brother, who was his biggest inspiration. Growing up in Detroit Michigan he knew as a young child that he wanted to be an artist. Watching his oldest brother drawing had a major influence on his pursuing art. He remembers he would copy his brothers drawings. His father also had an ability to draw and would mostly concentrate on drawing concept cars. Most of his teachers from elementary to high school knew he would become an artist. His art teacher in high school in particular, has been a great mentor to him over the years, and watched him develop and grow as an artist. They are still friends and his former teacher has followed his progress from his beginnings in Atlanta and now in New York. He started painting at the age of five, but got his formal education in art and design at the Detroit Center for Creative Studies in Graphic Communication and later Atlanta's American College of Applied Arts.

While attending college in Atlanta he was hired at one of Atlanta's most premier high-end frame and design shops, Avery's Art and Frames, where he discovered gilding. He designed and framed many fine works of art using the gold leaf technique. He had been searching for a unique and different style he could call his own and gilding was his calling. He had been studying graphic design and illustration but became self taught in using the gilding technique. During this time he did his own research about gilding and also about using other mediums such as putting it on glass and canvas. Since then Garry perfected this age old technique of gold leaf artistry for basic frame and has since transferred the technique to mediums such as canvas, wood, and glass.

Garry has also developed a personal artistic style called reverse glass gliding or painting on glass. The paintings are created in reverse, including his signature. He says of this work "it is the most gratifying feeling to see these images come to life on glass. Truth is revealed through gold and glass. Honesty revealed through abstraction and distortion." Garry combines diverse materials in his abstract art pieces including gesso and clay, to gold, copper and other metallic leaf, as well as layers of acrylic paint, varnishes and shellacs.

In a short period, Garry has had several galleries in the Southeast showing his work as well as several shows here in New York. Garry has gone on to receive many awards and special recognitions for his work using gold leaf technique. His notable accomplishments include his Award for Recognition for the World Trade Center Memorial Competition, in which his design of two pyramid shaped buildings became a finalist and was featured on their website. He also received an Award of Merit for the Jubilee Cultural Arts Alliance Juried Art Exhibition, and was a finalist in the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Park Fence Competition. He was also a finalist at the Georgia Pacific Dixie Art of the Plate, and one of his pieces was submitted in a contest at the New York Museum of Arts and Design in New York.

Garry has also been featured in a number of exhibitions starting with the New York Museum of Arts and Design in May 2003 to the New York Art Gotham "Square Foot Show" in June 2008.

According to his website his work as an artist has been described as strong, articulate and savvy. Along with his independent projects he also works with the Lowy, the preeminent framing and art conservation company in New York City.

We spoke to Garry about his art, his inspirations, talent and fusing the ancient techniques he has learned over the years with modern influences.

How has your work with gilding and framing over the years influenced your own personal art collection?

For many years the gilding and framing has had a major influence on my work, by allowing me to reach a very high level of complexity. It's a blessing to create art and also a custom frame together for my clients. I want to stay completely original with my work, so each piece is never created the same. I want each piece to be a unique, one of a kind for collectors. Knowing the conservation side of it, I'm able to give advice to my clients on conservation, and to remain in contact with them for any restoration.

I have been with Lowy for two years now and it was an opportunity for me to move here from Atlanta. I remember the director said to me to come to New York and leave everything in Atlanta behind. It's the oldest frame shop here in New York and 102 years old. All the major museums and galleries go to them for their customized pieces. It's a blessing for me to do my artwork, and to also be able to produce a quality frame for my work. You are getting an original piece from me and also a custom frame for that piece. From the frame to the painting, it's all been done by hand and done by me and no one else. I want my work to be unique and original and I try to stick to that thinking. I keep in contact with all the collectors of my art and I make sure they have the information so they can preserve it. If something happens I will restore it because I know how to. That is one of the benefits of getting my art. The pieces are like my children and I want to take care of them forever. I love seeing my pieces displayed all over New York.

If a client wants a custom piece I will sit down with them and talk with them about what they want. I would outsource the making of a cast, which would be done by someone else. My gold dog was cast out of cement, and it was 150 pounds. I had never worked on a piece in cement before. I had to make sure the materials I work with would go with cement. I would probably use fiberglass to do the finish on it. The finish on the dog is actually metal leaf. It has been oxidized into different colors like red and blue. I do half and half on my animal pieces so you can see both sides of the colors. I don't mind doing customized work, and I see it as a challenge. I love being creative, and I will find a way to do it. I like to see how far I can push and how much I can put my spin on it.

It must be such a privilege being surrounded by such incredible pieces of artwork at Lowy on a daily basis. Who are some of your own personal favorite artists?

I have seen so many great works, but my personal favorites are Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, John Singer Sergeant, Claude Monet, Czanne, Warhol, Andrew Wyeth, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White, to name but a few. I have seen some very expensive paintings and I love all the usual artists. I get to do frames for those pieces and I am amazed by the number of top pieces that come into Lowy. I like everything, all the styles of art. Gilding really opened my eyes and now I really appreciate the history of the art. In the past they would hire a framer to frame their pieces for them. My work really reflects the past, present and future. The story of some of my pieces relate to history and simply laying down the foundations for the 21st century and beyond.

Do you plan on trying any new techniques or taking your art in a new direction sometime in the future?

Definitely, I have so many directions to take my work and styles to upgrade. First of all

on my next project with my abstract works, I simply want to go larger and build more

complex objects. I've always wanted to challenge myself to create an extremely large

and complex piece and see it displayed on a large wall, such as for a hotel lobby. I have

been practicing a lot with doing a larger piece. I'm also working on a new technique with

my figurative works to achieve a very realistic sculpture. This involves high relief on

wood, and introducing different colors of 12 karat Japanese gold leaf. I'm also

developing object based sculptures and my goal is to apply gold leaf on them. My cow

and dog are just examples of what's to come with my upcoming projects. Additionally,

I'm exploring with digital photography, to incorporate it into my other styles.

I feel I am only scratching the surface with what I have done so far. I also want to do a large abstract painting. I would love to take wood and cut it up and see the results and then see it displayed. With some of my abstract pieces, I can see it displayed in a large space and that is just one direction I want to explore. I want create a figurative style using gold leaf. I want to make the figure more realistic and to introduce more colors of gold. I would use Japanese gold leaf on the whole surface. Japanese leaf comes in various colors and I would like to do a whole piece in blue for instance. This would make the piece very expensive as a book of 500 gold leaves can be $500, but for Japanese leaf it can be $800. I would only use it for high end pieces, but I will do it for a client that asks for it.

I also want to work more on object based sculptures. For instance I want to gild a mannequin, and make it similar to the dog and cow. I will have a new project on display in a show coming up shortly called Lip Trucks Projects in Crow New Falls, NY.

For Garry it was a matter of finding a particular style or technique for his art. He never thought of using the gilding in his art until he started doing it for his job. He then did research on artists doing gilding and he started experimenting with it. He got a great reception from a lot of people with his gilding work. He then did shows at several galleries in Atlanta, Florida, Dallas and New York. From there he "found his voice" in terms of the style he wanted. Garry says he wanted to do something completely different, and his work to be totally unique from other artists. A lot of people initially did not like it because it was so different. However, he didn't let that persuade him because he liked to produce that type of work. Coming to New York has made a big difference in his career because this market accepts and embraces different types of work. He says he feels at home being able to express himself with this style in New York, so feels New York is where he needs to be in the next few years. In time he hopes his work will take off here and new opportunities will present themselves both in New York and beyond. Garry says he loves New York and came here to share and showcase his art.

His upcoming shows include:

Lift Trucks Projects in Croton Falls, New York: ltproject.com

Director: Toby Rosser

Garry says "I'm working on some object based sculptures for the Fall group show at Lift Trucks Projects, which takes place in October."

The Art Dog and Cats of New York

Project Coordinator: James Zimmerman

PETHEALTHSTORE pethealthstore.com

My gilded dog piece will be included in this show and auction in October for the National Adopt a Dog Month. My piece will be auctioned off at this charity event to raise money for the animal shelter.

Artist Garry Grant, goes for gold by fusing ancient techniques and modern influences

By: Susan Velasquez

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