"Blood, Sugar, Sex Magik" and "Dreamer II" concept sketches
Greg is a self-taught, mixed media artist who describes his work as “a mixture of abstract expressionism, pop and graffiti street art”.
With artwork featuring Playboy models to Einstein, the general theme that infuses his work is one of positivity where the specific message, elements and composition in each piece is fresh and handled differently each time.
"Positive or energetic messaging is my key focus. I want to create artwork from a personal feeling of motivation or positivity. For example, seeing people work hard or working hard myself and achieving something is gratifying to me, so I want to create a piece of artwork that might give the viewer a piece of what I’m feeling.”
He achieves this through a mixed media style comprising multiple layers of pop culture imagery, graffiti, collage, photography and resin.
Get up close and personal with two of Greg's mixed media paintings - "Blood, Sugar, Sex Magik" and "Dreamer II".
Blood, Sugar, Sex Magik
Arty-Fact: This work is inspired by the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" album. The infamous Betty Boop is wearing the vintage Mickey Mouse sorcerer hat ("Sex" and "Magik"), with a background of various quotes by Betty Boop and others. In addition, Betty Boop stands next to a bloodied skull ("Blood") which hints she's been on a hunt - the cash surrounding the skull indicating exactly what she was hunting. The base of this piece is made from actual sugar packets collected from various locations throughout Europe ("Sugar").
"Boop-Oop-A-Doop!" ~ Betty Boop
Dreamer II
Arty-Fact: This piece calls to light the level of intensity, drive and motivation one must have to completely follow a dream. With so many self or societally imposed walls and obstacles, rights and wrongs, one must be a superhero to rip past everything and follow a dream. Anarchy signs are shown throughout the piece particularly in the Superman "S" furthering the point that one must ignore the "taught" and think independently and outside the norm to achieve a dream.
"To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go..."
~ The Impossible Dream, Man of La Mancha