Bill Gross: Monochrome
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Born in Omaha in 1955, Gross was hooked by reproductions of Cezanne in high school and has since painted in a variety of modes, from Stuart Davis-inspired abstractions to the Hairy Who style to still lifes to abstractions “leaning toward surrealism.” But since 1993, inspired by the Chicago skyline seen from the roof of his building, he’s painted cityscapes. Feeling “a need to get outside and walk the streets a little bit more,” he found he had a particular interest in signs and brick walls. “I’ve always been sort of fascinated by weird architectural details in Chicago,” he says. Since such ornamentation is often destroyed in condo conversions or demolitions to make way for condos, Gross has been photographing these details–and also painting them, giving them the time and care that will “memorialize” them.
Gross’s work made me think of mid-90s pieces by former Chicagoan Walter Andersons, whose trompe l’oeil paintings of handwritten notes use no expressionistic devices yet are full of feeling. Gross, who says he’s a good friend of Andersons’s, acknowledges the influence of Andersons’s realistic paintings of text fragments. In Gross’s work, horizontal or vertical brushstrokes make a kind of patchwork that evokes hand weaving. Often mixing powdered pigment into his oil paint to create “a much drier look,” he creates a flat, nonglossy surface that encourages an almost tactile contact.
