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Works of New York-based Artist Evoke Sight, Sounds and Energy of City Life
New York, NY – The Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM) announced today the opening of an exhibition of the works of New York-based artist, Red Grooms. Grooms’ prolific career and work as a painter, sculptor, printmaker, filmmaker and theater designer provides children and families with a view into the artistic process—from inspiration, conception and vision to the act of creating. The exhibition opens June 28, 2013.

Red Grooms’ New York City reflects the City’s frenetic energy, exuberance and playfulness through the artist’s visually stimulating, layered approach. Thought-provoking and whimsical for adults and children alike, the exhibition highlights CMOM’s commitment to provide families with access to fine works of art early in life and exposure to the art-making process.

Among the eight works on view in the Red Grooms’ New York City exhibition is Rockefeller Center (1995), a three-dimensional, mixed media piece. Colorful, with pop art constructions, it is an example of Grooms’ sculptural tableaux style, which he calls “sculpto-pictoramas.” On loan from a private collection, Rockefeller Center captures the architectural and kinetic energy of the midtown Manhattan landmark.

Approximately 5’ x 5’ x 2’ and consisting of mixed media elements including an illuminated sky, Rockefeller Center, with all its minute attention to detail, comes to life and invites the viewer to enter the piece itself. Collateral material will help tell the story behind the construction of the midtown landmark, its most famous structures and outdoor spaces, and how John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s vision was ultimately realized.

“I am a storyteller…” said Red Grooms, and with Jack Hammer Blues (2004), the subject of his story is the everyday, working class experience in New York City. In this spirit, the viewer can almost hear the rhythm of man and machine and feel the heat rising from the pavement on a summer afternoon.

Portrait of Francis Bacon (1990) takes the viewer inside the figurative painter’s studio and serves as a literal representation of Grooms’ own studio and process. “I was able to dump my studio debris into that piece,” he said. Indeed, he includes his own paint tubes and his actual brushes in the work. Portrait of Francis Bacon represents CMOM’s goal—to show the process, to see behind the art, to engage and inspire creativity in all its visitors, children and adults.

“One of the great purposes of art is to inspire, so it makes perfect sense for me to display at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan,” said Red Grooms. “This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with a young, fresh and receptive audience”

“Red Grooms’ New York City exemplifies how CMOM introduces children to the artistic process and how to look at art,” said CMOM’s Executive Director Andrew Ackerman. “By seeing the Rockefeller Center piece alongside Grooms’ preparatory drawings, as well as archtectural renderings, we provide children and families with a behind-the-scenes look at the artist’s planning and conceptualization of his work. The specially selected pieces for this exhibit help children understand the many different ways of seeing their world and environment.”

Additional works in CMOM’s Red Grooms’ New York City include:
Study for Wedding Bells on Fifth Avenue (1999) 
Latex on board 
40 x 60 in., 
Courtesy of Marlborough Gallery
Wollman Rink (2003) 
Mixed media
 18 x 43 x 14 1/2 in., 
Courtesy of Marlborough Gallery
Sailor Kelly (1989)
 Painted bronze, 
11 x 27 1/2 x 12 3/4 in., 
On loan from the Louis-Dreyfus Family Collection
Madison Avenue Discount Store (1971) 
Lithograph
, 19 7/8 x 41 3/4 in., 
On loan from a private collection
Rockefeller Center (1995) 
Lithograph, 
36 1/4 x 23 1/2 in., 
On loan from the artist

Red Grooms’ New York City opens on Friday, June 28 and continues CMOM’s focus on exhibitions of prominent artists. Past shows include The Art of Andy Warhol, Art Inside Out (which featured works by Elizabeth Murray, Fred Wilson and William Wegman) and Sunday Morning Breakfast: Inside the Art of Romare Bearden.