Rainer Gross in his studio - photo by David Benthal

Rainer Gross was born in Cologne, Germany in 1951. In 1973 he left Cologne to come to New York City, where he continued his art career at a time when many proclaimed the “end of painting.” Gross’ reaction to this proclamation was to draw on his connection to the painterly heritage of traditional European Art and its usage of iconography, and to establish a vocabulary capable of taking these historical traditions into the present. The dense and weathered surfaces of his paintings, realized through layers of pressed pigments, do just this.

He has exhibited his works in numerous solo exhibitions nationally and internationally at venues such as the Ludwig Museum (Koblenz, Germany), Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts (Lausanne, Switzerland), Krannert Art museum (Champaign, Illinois) and many others.

Gross’ paintings are in numerous public collections, including the AT&T Corporate Art Collection, the Cohen Family Collection, the UBS Union B­­ank of Switzerland,  Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Lowe Art Museum amongst others. His works have been reviewed by The Paris Review, The New York Times, Art in America, The Boston Globe, ArtNews, The Brooklyn Rail, and many more.

The book he is reading now is The History of Jazz by Ted Gioia,

Double Twins X -Münstereifel, 2021, 54x132” in four parts, oil and pigments on canvas

Double Take - NoFo X 2022, 24x16", 61x41cm, framed 26x18", 66x46cm Archival pigment high-quality giclée print on Photo Rag Ultra Smooth Matte FineArt Paper from Hahnemuhle, mounted on wood panel.