·2023-06-25

The magnetism of the under-looked. An intro to Anthony Grant.

-Name: Anthony Grant

-Born/Based:The Bronx, NY / El Cerrito, CA

-Making art since: I can remember being taught to read and write by my mom. She drew pictures, and I’d write what the picture was. I got stuck on one and kept guessing wrong. When she told me the answer, I was furious because the picture did not look like what she said it was—a lamp. So I grabbed the pencil and drew my version. That’s the first memory I have of creating something with the intent to represent or communicate something. It startled me because it was in my brain, and then boom—it was on the paper. I never forgot that feeling.

Years later, I was applying to art colleges and one application asked me to make an image without drawing it. Accepting the challenge. I decided to try collage for the first time. I looked for any and all blue hues I could find in the pages of a copy of Details magazine. After a few hours I managed to create an image of my subject—a ceramic blue lamp that was on my nightstand. So to answer the question 1980.

-Something you’d like our readers know about you:
I wanted to be a baseball player. Spoiler alert—it didn’t happen.
I once entered an art contest when I was a freshman in high school. I drew a picture of a baseball player—it won third place. Later in my senior year I was still trying to figure out how to make art and make a living once I got out of school. My art teacher suggested graphic design. I never considered it before so I did more research. Next thing I know I’m applying to art schools for college. I studied graphic design and turned it into a 25+ year career. The design skills I learned informed how I make my artwork. Now I listen to baseball games when I’m in my studio making collages—I’m still not a baseball player but I’m happy how it all worked out.

-What are three tools/elements you can’t work without?
My scanner / printer, photoshop, and fluid matte medium.

-What do you think is the most important thing that defines your work as yours?
Composition and the elements I use help to give my work a certain “look.” With collage I’ve learned to take control of the materials and create an inventory of images. I typically use cardboard as my surface, but I also enjoy working on wood panels. I am trying to exhaust all the possibilities of the images and push them past their limits of their original intent. Working on multiple pieces at a time helps me to recognize when one piece is complete while another may need more layers.

-Can you describe your work process?
My process is very intuitive, meditative, and therapeutic. I’m constantly processing all the things I don’t know how to say along with all the things I feel or experience. Sometimes I have a general idea of what I want to make, other times I’m just enjoying being in a flow-state. Themes will appear as I work, but I usually rearrange pieces without having a predetermined image or answer in mind. I go back and forth from digital to analog until the work feels finished.