Today we’d like to introduce you to Gary Kroman.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Gary. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I began working independently as a freelance illustrator in 1972 and was drawing extensively for ad agencies and magazines. It was in 1973 that I met up with Les Kippel, owner of a new publication called Relix, a Grateful Dead fan based magazine. Immediately Les and I clicked and I started illustrating for the magazine. Inspired by Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Robert Crumb and the other San Francisco psychedelic poster and underground comic artists of the late sixties and early seventies, I created volumes of magazine covers, posters, album covers and tee-shirt designs for Relix.
My posters, most notably the Grateful Dead 100 Song Titles, Dead Serenade, Sunshine Daydream and Summer Of Love 20th Anniversary are licensed and sold to various companies in many categories and are still traded and sold all over the world to this day. I’ve done numerous CD covers for bands and artists. I’ve has been published in “The Art of Rock”, Volume 1 by Paul Grushkin and most of Relix’s magazine covers. In 2004, the Hard Rock Vault held a retrospective called “30 Years of Grateful Dead Art and Imagery” of which 75% was my art.
The last five years I’ve broadened my range of art and have been working on layered plexiglass with LED lighting for dimension. I partnered at the Box Gallery with Rolando Chang Barrero in West Palm Beach for a year and currently run my own gallery in Port Jefferson, NY. I’m also represented at The Benzaiten Center in Lake Worth and NOBE Gallery in Ft. Lauderdale.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There are always struggles and obstacles. Money, competition and frustration when you can’t foresee the end result of your work but the upside is satisfaction of creating something new and different. Always thinking out of the box is the way to go.
Please tell us about Kroman Gallery.
When I started working in layered imagery I saw something I hadn’t seen before. The dimension and lights are different than anything I’ve seen around and it’s become my “signature”.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Miami is an amazing city for artists. It’s become very inspirational in the last 15 years or so. It rivals L.A. and N.Y. for sure and draws clients from around the globe. As such, for an artist living there it can be a bit on the expensive side starting out.
Contact Info:
- Address: 208 East Main St
Port Jefferson, NY 11777 - Website: www.garykroman.com
- Phone: 917-747-2760
- Email: contact@garykroman.com
- Instagram: Gary Kroman
- Facebook: Gary Kroman Art
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
