Everybody think Alex Gross (1968) is an amazing and talented  illustrator. And he is. There are a lot of influences in his art. From Renaissance to Japanese  advertising.

Alex graduated in 1990 from Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena, California.

“His earliest artistic influences were comic books and movies especially the strong visuals from science fiction television and films like Star Trek and later Star Wars.”

About his influences he recognizes :

“…the great Japanese artist and designer Shinohara Katsuyuki. He is one of my favorite artists ever.”

And other artists like:

“…Aron Wiesenfeld, Jeff Soto, James Jean and Ben Marra are a few of my favorite young guns…”

In the year 2000, he received a fellowship from the Japan Foundation. And that changed his artistic life. He describes the experience of Japan:

“…The Blade Runner vision of the future was smacking me over the head, and I was not prepared for it.”

This trip showed him the stethical approach to the art of Japanese culture and he took mostly from advertising and vintage pictures, all the imagery that it will be present in his art the next years.

His inspiration comes from many sources, even Russian and British Art (read the article about inspiration I wrote):

“I absolutely love old photos and vintage pictures. The Victorian Era is the time when I would have liked to live.”

His work have been published by Taschen in 2004 under the title Japanese Beauties. In 2007, Chronicle books published The Art of Alex Gross, a monograph featuring Alex’s painting, drawing and printmaking from 1999 through 2007.

He had been classified as a Pop Surrealist or Surreal Pop artist.

He mixes the images in a dream like reality.

“…this whole idea of freely mixing imagery that doesnt normally go together was really exciting to me.”

The creative process of Alex Gross begins with an image as a main inspiration, then he sketches in the computer. And the final artwork is hand made on traditional painting.

“Often, the genesis of a painting for me will be finding an image like that one, which really inspires me to take it and do something with it. I have borrowed imagery from gothic artists like Rogier Van der Weyden a

ll the way to modern artists like Shinohara, Yokoo Tadanoori and George Tooker, to name a few. These days i tend to use mostly images that I find in old photographs.”

“All of my gallery work is either Oil paint or mixed media, which include oils, acrylics and some collage. I do use the computer quite a lot in the sketch phase. But in the finished product it is not really being used.”

And finally he has an advice for illustrators and it is a principle for everybody in the creative field:

“I dont really have advice for illustrators other than to say develop your own personal voice as best you can, and people will be drawn to it if it is real, it is you, and it is creative.”

And now, check some of his work.

And remember to visit his site: http://www.alexgross.com/

Source Box:

Text:

http://www.vivianite.net/alex-gross-4.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Gross

http://www.graphotism.com/Interviews

http://popdrawer.blogspot.com/search/label/Alex%20Gross

Images:

http://www.alexgross.com