Born in Nashville, Tennessee on the 7th of June 1937, Red Grooms was son to Gerald and Wilhelmina Grooms, both of whom had lived in the county for many years. His real name is Charles Rogers Grooms. He was nick-named Red Grooms for being read-headed. In his early teen days, Grooms attended institutions that include the Art Institute of Chicago, the New School for Social Research in New York, and the Hans Hofmann School on Cape Cod (Barton & Nichols, 2017). In the 50s and 60s, Grooms performed public pieces that came to be known as happenings. At times he would be accompanied by fellow New York artists such as Jim Dine, Allan Kaprow, and Claes Oldenburg. Besides working in collaboration with fellow artists, Grooms also worked closely with his wife Mimi Gross, who he had got married to in 1961. Popularly recognized as a sculptor, Grooms is a prolific painter, printmaker, and a pioneering artist and filmmaker whose works are still relevant in modern-day America.
Using mediums such as wire, vinyl, elastic wood, fabric, and any other apt materials he needed, Grooms constructed large-scale environments particularly presenting human figures. In most cases, they were based on specifics of the settings in which they were sculptured. Groom’s work took shape in the late 60s up to the mid-70s when his efforts of extending pop art into life-size environmental constructions began to get recognition. The most famous of his works, Ruckus Manhattan was created in 1975 by Grooms and his assistants from the Ruckus Construction Company (Gross, 2017). At its core, the Ruckus Manhattan is composed of a thirty-foot tall model of the World Trade Center with lights, a Statute of Liberty-fifteen foot, and a swaying Brooklyn Bridge. The work achieves a high level of convincing in the representation of the city as a whole. The familiarity of the selected images to Americans creates not only an amusement but also draws a closer examination of the penetrating view of society.
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Grooms is famous because of the clever and insightful examination of the country’s historical past through his pieces of art. For instance, in another major work, Philadelphia Cornucopia, the picture was a commission for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia to mark a major celebration (Gross, 2017). Among the images selected for featuring in this work were some of the founding fathers of the nation; Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin. In another work Nighthawks Revisited , of 1980, Grooms draw based on Edward Hoper’s painting, one of America’s prolific painters. When one views this version through the lenses of Groom, one realizes the much he has reshaped the environment with his eye-capturing paintings.
At times though, his works and vision as an artist have aroused controversy, regardless of the insight, wit, and humor with which he has chronicled the American scene. For instance, in his painting Shoot-Out, of 1983, Grooms painted on an aluminum canvas a sculpture that showed a cowboy and an American Indian shooting each other. The painting was commissioned for a public site but sparked a lot of controversies, and intense particularly in Colorado, Denver Art Museum. The main claim was that Grooms was insensitive to the Indian culture and history and that he mispresented the history of conflicts between Indians and the white settlers (Elsen, 1989). Despite this one time, Groom’s vision for society has remained optimistic and he is at the heart of Americans because to date hos work receives significant enthusiastic response.
Notably, in his interviews when requested to describe a certain work, he is thoughtful and answers with care. It is evident that this is the same kind of care with which he approaches his art. Perhaps that is why I admire the artist. He is keen to capture the likeness of each artist in his work. It is evidently clear that he has not had trouble with his tasks over the years because a single look at his paintings brings to the viewer’s eyes a reflection of the subject’s character. Generally, his work, experiences, and outlook do not only inspire me but also elicit a sense of awe. I hope to meet him one day and share the experience.
The design of Groom’s pictures is both exquisite and imaginative. He uses overlays and interplays of works and images and outlines to come up with a lavish and splendid production. For years his work has been termed as superb, bright, and vibrant (Gross, 2017). It is also worth noting that one of the core reasons his works are celebratory is the way in which he draws; in direct and simple terms. He relies on prolific philosophers the likes of Plato in his writings, making abstractions clear to the common reader and viewer. However, Grooms also draws on a broad range of Western philosophical culture (Valdez, 2017). As a result, his work is not only straightforward but also can be understood instantly. His immense knowledge of art and history alike enables him to make statements about its history and relationship to it. Currently, he is working on a significant number of portraits for other artists standing in front of their iconic pieces of art. This is important because one of his value as an artist is appreciating the works of other artists.
The impact of Grooms on society is significant. His works have been exhibited in some of the world’s best museums across the United States of America, Europe, and Japan. His art forms a part of the 39 museums including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Metropolitan Museum Art and Museum of Art in Nashville among others (Valdez, 2017). His prolific works have earned him awards and gifts. In 2003, Grooms was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academic of Design. In 2018, he also received a gift from Walter and Sarah Knestrick of Nashville Tennessee for his 238 graphic works. They were installed in the new galleries of the Tennessee State Museum. Such global recognition reveals the kind of impact Grooms has had on society.
Other artists have also been beneficiaries of Groom’s works as an artist. Working with other artists such as Tom Burkhardt has enabled them to learn a lot from him (Gross, 2017). He has impacted others the skill of being observational to produce sculptures that are innovative and vital. Other artists recognize him as humorous, energetic and stylized. Also, through his works, he has paid homage to famous figures in the history of art.
Personally, I admire Red Grooms because of his ability to combine his wit with original techniques of innovation and come up with sculptures that are remarkable and relevant to the history of this country. Besides, I have watched a few of his interviews on youtube and he is humorous particularly on narrative commentaries regarding the American culture. Groom is still alive. Despite his old age he still has the energy to work on his sculptures. Currently, Red Groom lives and works in New York City in a studio in lower Manhattan that is situated at the junction between Tribeca and Chinatown (Hagy et al, 2016). He has been here for the last forty years ad lives with her only daughter Saskia Grooms.
References
Barton, G. P., & Nichols, C. (2017). 2016 Tennessee Bibliography: A through M. Tennessee Libraries , 67 (4).
Elsen, A. (1989). What We Have Learned about Modern Public Sculpture: Ten Propositions. Art Journal , 48 (4), 291-297.
Gross, M. (2017). Puzzling the Legacy. Art Journal , 76 (1), 129-138.
Hagy, J., Langone, A., Moss, J., Nikanjam, S., Pastorelle, B., Pearce, C., & Zarrouk, R. (2016). Profiles-Right Where We Started: Celebrating New York City Organizations at the Same Locations Over a Century or More.
Valdez, J. L. (2017). The vocational artist (Doctoral dissertation).
