SUSAN JAFFE

profit group called 4heads. Gregg and his fellow artists were given space on Governor’s Island from 2020 through 2021. “I was there during lockdown and had a whole floor of an old, abandoned house with other artists. It was great but also put things into perspective.”

His painting process during the pandemic period? Well, sticking to his own style which he has been doing for over 20 years now. With a focus on circles and horizontal drags across, Gregg explains that this just opens up how beautiful the simplicity is. “During this time, I limited my color palette even more. There were six different whites I played with, all seen on the layers of peeling paint in my Governor’s Island studio. I became the circle painter, which my high school self would have made fun of, and now I am also the white-on-white painter. I really focused on calm. Being alone and watching traffic go across the bridges, around the harbor influenced me as well. It just really brought me back to the small country town, Bombay, NY, where I grew up. The people in cars on the George Washington Bridge during rush hour outnumber the people living in my town. I’m just fascinated by all these people and their unique stories. Every line in the painting is like one of those individual strands that make up this fabric. Meditating on that flow of the day keeps drawing me back to the painting process.”

This time living alone and realizing that the absence of human contact and physical touch was palpable, got Gregg’s collaboration juices flowing with fellow artists as well. “I found ways to work with poets, musicians, DJs, a whisky maker and other creatives. I started taking time to meditate on what was really important. Next was the importance of human touch and human contact and the loss of that, and third was finding ways to use my voice as a means to provide a platform for others that don’t always get heard. My way of giving back was reaching out to younger artists as well as those who didn’t have the same opportunities and providing this space for them. Artist Guy Philoche was a huge inspiration for me.”

Gregg not only got his groove back, but also added to his growing skill set, especially as he started taking on new projects, including NFTs, which led to being approached by The Financial Times. The paper followed his journey while he was showing his work digitally through the pandemic as well as physically before Covid broke out. His NFT navigating adventure was even made into a documentary, allowing him to connect with experts in this new medium. After much publicity and his first NFT being sold in one week, this painter found himself in the prime of his career showing his NFTs in Miami during Art Basel and constantly being recognized at parties.

This forward-thinking artist currently remains focused on everything from his physical paintings to drawings and even teaching others more about making and marketing NFTs. “There are so many younger as well as older artists who are trying to make money off of it, but don’t know much about it. Anybody can really do it, it’s not that hard. I use it as a platform for my own personal art as it adds motion to my works, making them more meditative. I also see it as it platform to highlight community, connection and collaborations.”

Most recently, he was hired to, once again, sketch musicians and attendees of the famous ‘Electric Forest’ music festival. At the last gathering in the woods of Northern Michigan he sketched beat box champion Honeycomb, and the two are now discussing partnering on an NFT together which would include music and words along with some sketching. “I haven’t done this with NFTs yet, it’s all just at early stages which I believe will settle down a bit and become another artistic medium. Creatives are just starting to discover what is possible in “DURING THIS TIME, I LIMITED MY COLOR PALETTE EVEN MORE. THERE WERE SIX DIFFERENT WHITES I PLAYED WITH, ALL SEEN ON THE LAYERS OF PEELING PAINT IN MY GOVERNOR’S ISLAND STUDIO. I BECAME THE CIRCLE PAINTER, WHICH MY HIGH SCHOOL SELF WOULD HAVE MADE FUN OF, AND NOW I AM ALSO THE WHITE-ONWHITE PAINTER. I REALLY FOCUSED ON CALM’’

the metaverse, which is a whole new world to collaborate and explore. I like the democratic nature of this digital world and that authenticity seems to be slowly rising to the top. A young Latina artist right now is making money steadily by posting digital versions of her graffiti work. There is no gallery attached to the NFTs, so you are in charge of the whole thing. I also figured out how to highlight my nearly decade long partnership with the Poetry Society of New York in some upcoming collaborations. You really shouldn’t be seeing the painting without the words that were formed in connection with the visual art in some way, and when poets read their own poems, it’s even more beautiful. I embedded the audio of my creative collaborations with the NFT fused together and am also trying to do some things like that with video and audio clips.”

Other exciting projects in the pipeline currently include a limited series of NFTs with a good friend of his, the renowned basketball legend and five-time Olympian Teresa Edwards, which are gearing up to be released early this summer. Edwards’ recent book called Black Gold narrates her remarkable life and career and this will be her first ever NFT.

Gregg, who strives to show people a new way of seeing things through his art, aims to do the same thing with his students at Upper West Side College Preparatory School where he served as the head of Visual Arts and Art History for nearly 8 years and continues to teach painting and drawing classes. He is even a digital resident with a group called Silver Arts Project that provides studios spaces in the 4 World Trade Building and creates a platform for a range of incredible artists. “The students are amazing artists and such brilliant, savvy kids from having grown up in the city. I always get inspired and pushed by my kids. They are sincere and I always get an honest review from them. It keeps me inspired and humble.”

This A-list artist who continues to push boundaries with his great body of work, highlights one of the greatest moments of his career. “I was able to show my figurative drawings and paintings together, something which rarely happens because galleries had said that people wouldn’t see the connection. A lot of my paintings were born out of the drawings and sketches and they are all tied together. I am like two completely different artists that are very much related.”

Gregg also recently won an Instagram contest to create artistry designing and painting the entire storefront for LAAMs, an eclectic store where you will find an on-site tattoo artist as well as unique clothing that is fabricated on site and highlights many local artists thanks to founder and owner, Scott Selvin. The stylish, alternative space was even featured in Vogue last year as part of a story on the Lower East Side returning to its hay day. Next up you will be able to see Gregg’s paintings and sketches together again in a Manhattan show at the 19 Dutch building with the group RevArt opening the first week of June and his first solo show, since before the pandemic, featuring some of Gregg’s never before seen works and projects as well as pieces from lockdown at the D.Colabella Gallery in Ridgefield, Connecticut opening this fall.

By pushing his own boundaries, this alwaysevolving artist also pushes his audience to rethink their own. P