Description

John Grillo
(1917-2014)

Grillo was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and
studied at the Hartford Art School, 1935-1938;
with David Park at the California School of Fine Arts,
1945-1947; with Hans Hoffman in New York and
the Hans Hoffman School of Fine Arts, Provincetown,
Massachusetts, 1948-1951. Grillo remained active in
Provincetown, Mass. during much of his career.

Though he was only in the Bay Area for a two year
period while he studied at the California School of
Fine Arts under the directorship of David Park, his
aggressive style had a profound affect on the artists
he came into contact with at the time. He intuitively
grasped the abstract expressionist ethos immediately
and was extremely creative in both non-objective
as well as figurative abstractions. He undoubtedly
influenced Park in his later figurative work and is
viewed by many as one of the earliest influencers
on the Bay Area Figurative movement.