Norman Grochowski

Painting and sculpting for over 50 years and started in the early 1960's.

I Joined the Merchant Marines in my early twenties and set off to paint and draw around the world. Hitchhiking around Europe and Morocco for about a year and managed to meet cool artists nearly everywhere I went.

One of the many highlights doing this was visiting Salvador Dali at his home in Spain. Having the courage to knock on his door was a monumental effort. But he was gracious and understood my admiration of his work and invited me in to see some of the things he was doing.

Back in the 70's it was much safer to hitchhike and camp out as you journeyed and I ventured around for about a year meeting artists and and artisan craftsmen. Some were young and some were older and I learned many things from them and their approaches to art.

Through the years, I've worked many jobs, in factories, offices, eventually becoming a general contractor and set up my own iron shop. However, the one thing I always did, was remain true to my love of painting and sculpting.

Sales of my art didn't come easy and would have never made me financially able to raise my daughter and build a happy home with my wife. I was a realist and knew that most people viewed art a...

I Studied Commercial Art, Milwaukee Wisconsin in early 60's for about a year and a half, then moved to Los Angeles and preferred studying Fine Art at Santa Monica College for 2 years and took night classes at UCLA for a year. Working part time and taking classes full time, was too much and I left school to work full time.
During that time I met Sam Francis in 1968 and worked at his studio part time as an apprentice on and off for about a year.
Shortly afterwards in the early 70's, in Venice California, I met a neighbor down the street named Larry Albright, a wonderful Plasma Artist, who taught me all the aspects of Neon Art.
I became friends Jan Saether who was professor of figurative painting at the National Academy of the Arts in Oslo. I probably learned the most about painting from him during our long friendship. He painted like Rembrandt but liked my Expressionist approach and we would gather with other artists each week at school in the evenings in L.A. to paint and discuss ideas about our paintings and events of the world.

Group exhibition (10 artists), Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo, Japan, 2023 (Digital billboard display of original paintings)

Group exhibition (Invitation), Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Holland, 2019 (Van Gogh in Steel photo display, Entry Lobby)

Group exhibition (approx. 4 artists), "Where’s Daumier?", Mt. St. Mary College, Los Angeles, CA, 1992

Group exhibition (20 artists), L.A.C.E. Group Show, L.A.
Contemporary Exhibits, Los Angeles, CA, 1991 (Oil/Acrylic Paintings)

Group exhibition (5 artists), There And Beyond, L.A. County Museum of Art (Rental Gallery), Los Angeles, CA, 1990 (Featured 5 Paintings)

Group exhibition (5 artists), Attack Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 1985 (Director: David Guerin, Oil/Acrylic Painting)

Group exhibition (5 artists), B-1 Gallery, Venice, CA, 1985 (Director: Robert Berman, Oil/Acrylic Painting)

Group exhibition (10 artists), Funabashi Museum, Japan, 1984 (Stone and helium gas light sculpture)

Public Collections
Museum of Neon Art (MONA), Los Angeles, CA (Work acquired for permanent collection, 1986)