Today we’d like to introduce you to AJ Grossman.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
As with most artists, I started with my box of crayons. That must be why I ended up painting with encaustic. My art career started on 7th Avenue as a fashion Illustrator. Over the next few years, photography and computers made fashion illustrators obsolete. I then went into textile and fashion design. I found success in the garment industry and eventually became an art director which then led me far from my art roots, to a career in retail. At 40 years of age, I realized that I missed being a creative and took a class in encaustic wax and I was hooked. It has been my medium of choice since. When I do veer off into watercolor, or collage, I feel like I am cheating on my lover, and go back to the wax. I call encaustic “my addiction” and I am able to paint and print with the medium.
Please tell us about your art.
When I work with the wax, the aroma of the beeswax scents the studio. It is during the process of melting the wax, fusing it in, carving and scraping, that my work starts to develop. A unique aspect of encaustic paint, it can be polished to a high shine.
I currently paint in geometrics. Since I am a part-time quilter, my work many times takes on the shapes of the quilt blocks and color combinations. Controlling the wax to keep its edge is a challenge as well. Quilt patterns are very traditional, but I try to use unusual color combinations.
Other times, my work is very abstract and loose. At those times I am able to carve into the wax revealing layers of colored wax. Either way, encaustic is a labor-intensive material. Each layer of paint must be fused in with heat to adhere to the next. One of the aspects of wax that I love, it is natural and reusable. Nothing is wasted during the process, as the wax can be scraped off the painted surface and reused. Since I am always concerned about waste and the environment, this is the perfect medium.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
The best advice I was given by a museum curator was to always keep making work. Most artists work at other professions to support themselves and try to get in the studio, but even when I am not in the studio, I am sketching the next series. And use social media to get as much exposure on your art as possible and network. The one lesson I wished I learned earlier, was to not be so hard oneself.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My website www.ajgrossman.com is always being updated with current work. I enjoy teaching the process of encaustic. If you have an art center that is looking for a workshop, that helps to support my work. You can always see me on Instagram at ajgrossman_art to see how the medium work, and what is going on in the studio.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ajgrossman.com
- Email: aj@ajgrossman.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajgrossman_art/
Image Credit:
Aj Grossman
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