I am a multi-award-winning international abstract acrylic artist, author and entrepreneur located in southwest Florida. 

Both of my parents died in their early 50's, so I have always had a certain quest for living life to the fullest, and for the spirit of adventure.

Consequently, I have traveled to over 100 countries gathering inspiration for my paintings in my lifetime. After I retired, my wife Mary and I sold everything and traveled full-time to 73 different countries all around the globe for almost 3 years before getting stuck in Quito, Ecuador when the pandemic hit. We traveled 134,000 miles, visited 251 cities and stayed in 128 different accommodations over the course of the trip. 

Some highlights included: The Pyramids, The Louvre, The Great Wall of China, Hiroshima, Japan, Angkor Wat, Auschwitz, The Acropolis, Machu Picchu, Pompeii, Panama Canal, Iguazu Falls, The Berlin Wall, Pearl Harbor and an African safari. We skydived in Fiji, repelled waterfalls in Costa Rica, ziplined in Panama, paraglided off the cliffs in Madeira, watched the sunrise from a hot air balloon in Cappadocia, Turkey, observed the stars from the Dark Sky Reserve in New Zealand, hiked the Rainbow Mountains in Peru and we even worked at an elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai, Thailand. 

When I returned to Florida during the height of the pandemic, I devoted myself to painting after a long hiatus. Once I had created enough inventory, I launched my art business and online store in the fall of 2020. I aspire to follow in the footsteps of other late bloomers in life such as Colonel Sanders, Grandma Moses, Paul Cezanne and Frank McCourt. 

I have been told that looking at my paintings is comparable to lying on your back, looking up at the clouds and trying to interpret the shapes that you see. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a whole lot of fun to me!

The heart and soul of my paintings emanates from vividly seeing colors and shapes in my daily life and from the adventures that I have had all around the world. I have been passionate about abstract art since I was a child. Most of my paintings attempt to capture a dream or experience that I have had at some point in my past. Music plays a key role in conjuring up day dreams, which many times, I even have a hard time understanding. Somehow, between my head, heart and hand, I reproduce these memories on canvas for others to interpret with me. 

Of course, in every place I have traveled to I have also been inspired by the art I have seen in galleries and museums. I have especially enjoyed the works of Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miro, Alexander Calder and Jackson Pollock. My artwork is a reflection of my life’s journey, adventures and experiences and I am thrilled to be able to share it with you. 

I am happy to report that over 100 pieces of my artwork now hang in homes all across the U.S. and Europe. It has been very gratifying to create work that people actually feel a connection to!

While I am not painting, I enjoy going to the theater and live music events, playing golf and softball, traveling with my wife and recording music in my home studio. 

I also race stock cars and have done so on 23 NASCAR tracks across the country for the last 12 years and still enjoy doing so today. My top speed was 180 MPH at Talladega Speedway! My favorite track was Indianapolis.

As a former music producer and concert promoter, I am a huge fan of adult alternative music. I have published over 100 playlists on Spotify under "Alternative Tastemaker" and "Tastemaker Spectrum". You can follow me here: Garry's Spotify

In the spirit of giving back to the arts community, I served as the President of the Art Council of Southwest Florida (ACSWF) in 2022, which is an "umbrella" 501 (c) (3) organization consisting of 21 art associations, 2 cooperative galleries and over 6,000 member artists and craftspeople. I continue to assist the organization as Past President. I am also serving as a Board Member of Marco Island Center for the Visual and Performing Arts.

RECENT ARTIST AWARDS & RECOGNITION - CLICK HERE

GALLERY REPRESENTATION

COCO Art Gallery at Coconut Point Mall - Estero, Florida 

COCO Art Gallery at Coastland Center Mall - Naples, Florida 

Five 3 Gallery = Laguna Beach, California

Q-Gallery - New York City, New York

My work was formerly for sale in the following galleries: 

DAAS COOP Gallery - Fort Myers, Florida

Five Deuces Galleria - St. Petersburg, Florida

The Dancing Crane - Bradenton, Florida

ART ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS - Current/Past:

Marco Island Center for the Arts, Marco Island, Florida - Current

United Artists of Collier County, Naples, Florida - Current

Bayshore Arts District, Naples, Florida - Current

Art Center Sarasota, Sarasota, Florida

Fort Myers Beach Art Association, Fort Myers, Florida 

Art Center Manatee, Bradenton, Florida

Visual Arts Center, Punta Gorda, Florida

Gulf Coast Artists' Alliance, St. Petersburg, Florida 

Visual Artists International Association, London, England

EDUCATION:   

Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 2000 - CSS Graduate Business Degree

Stanford University - Stanford Certified Project Manager - 2016

DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois 1994 - Bachelor of Arts

Fisher College, Boston, Massachusetts, 1985 - Associate in Science 

Experience:   

• Multi-award-winning international acrylic abstract artist - 1995 to Current 
• World traveler - Traveled to over 100 countries in the past 20 years 
• Entrepreneur - Founded/led 5 startups: IT consulting and IT security, home construction, land development, a record label and an interactive video platform for the music industry 
• Published Author of: “50 Ass Kickin’ Lessons for the Entrepreneur Wannabe” a five star/best seller in several Amazon categories
• Inventor/innovator - launched the first digital music download store in New England in 2003. Launched the first interactive video platform (BandDigs) for the music industry in 2006 
• Music producer, record label owner and concert promoter working with talent such as Maroon 5, Tim McGraw, Willie Nelson, Suzanne Vega, Lily Tomlin and Journey 
• Home designer, land developer and builder of single family homes in Massachusetts and New Hampshire - owned and operated two different businesses for 10+ years 
• Retired High Tech Executive - Operated at the VP level for over 20 years at 6 different companies such as Icontrol Networks, Polycom, Polaroid, Aavid Thermalloy, Vette Corp. and Digital Equipment Corporation

My art business has been designated as a "Trusted Art Seller" with The Art Storefronts Organization, which means you can shop with confidence, and know that I stands behind the quality and value of my products.

Inspiration

My inspiration and motivation comes from several areas. For one, I am a huge music fan. I have seen 100’s of live shows in my lifetime and have produced, promoted and managed bands. I have even owned my own record label and started the first digital music download store in New England 20 years ago.   I have a very large collection of vinyl that I listen to when I paint. As a result, many of my paintings are named after a song title. I especially enjoy the earlier works of Elton John and the artists that came out of Laurel Canyon in the late 1960’s.   The primary inspiration and heart and soul of my paintings emanates from me vividly seeing colors and shapes in my daily life and from my many adventures and experiences that I have had during my lifelong travels to over 100 different countries around the world. Not many people can say this, but I have completed my bucket list!

Techniques

I paint using acrylics and mostly with brushes and palette knives. I use texture quite a bit in my paintings. I use bold and complementary colors. I also use high flow paints to create certain pieces. Most all my work will be finished off with a high gloss varnish, which really make the colors and texture pop.