Gregory William Frux
Encyclopedia
Gregory William Frux is a traditional realist art
ist, working mainly in the landscape
genre. His oil painting
s document both New York’s cityscapes and wilderness locations in North
and South America
.
and later school teacher who emigrated from Lvov, Poland in August 1939. His mother was grade school math teacher, who later taught adult literacy. It was through their teaching and example that Frux developed his passion for art and for his native city. Gregory Frux married artist Janet Ellen Morgan
in 1990.
Frux pursued art training art at the Brooklyn Museum
Art School, Art Students League
and National Academy of Design
where he studied with Harvey Dinnerstein
while simultaneously earning a Bachelor of Architecture
and subsequent license as an architect
. From 1983 to 1989 Frux worked as an Architect for the New York City Board of Education
(BOE) designing school additions and modernizations. In order to pursue his passion for art in public schools, in 1989 Frux moved to the newly created Public Art for Public Schools unit of the BOE, which is responsible for protection of 1500 works of art owned The City of New York. As a curator Frux catalogued, protected and helped conserved this significant collection from 1989 to 2006.
While working for the Board of Education, Frux completed his Master of Fine Arts from Brooklyn College
in 1986, studying with noted realist Lennart Anderson. After coursework in Carrara, Italy in 1984 he became increasingly dedicated to outdoor painting. Frux worked most often in Lower Manhattan, along the East River, and in Brooklyn’s Park Slope, Coney Island
and on the Gowanus Canal
, painting on site in oils. Frux is deeply engaged with the layers of urban history seen in abandoned and repurposed buildings, industrial architecture , and the resurgence of nature along the harbor. His cityscapes have received recognition with exhibitions at Brooklyn Borough Hall, Brooklyn College, the Coney Island Museum http://www.coneyisland.com/museum.shtml, Long Island University, Central Library Brooklyn Public Library, The Tabla Rasa Gallery and a commission by the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/posters/posters.html?year=1999.
Frux is deeply interested in the wilderness both aesthetically and as mountaineer. His climbing career has dovetailed with creative work in increasingly remote locations. Frux has served as artist in residence in four national park units: Weir Farm National Historic Site in Wilton, Ct, Glacier National Park, Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley National Park.
He has painted in the Rockies, Andes, Sierra Nevada, and Mohave Desert, including ‘portraits’ of significant peaks such as Cerro Fitzroy, Sajama and Lotus Flower Tower. This work have been included in the permanent collection of the National Park Service and exhibited by the American Alpine Club
. In December 2007 Frux traveled as artist in residence aboard the cruise ship Orlova to the Antarctic Peninsula http://www.theme.com.au/site/polar/files/Orlova_Trip_Report.pdf; his paintings of "Half Moon Bay, South Shetland Islands" have been published as a print. He worked as an artist aboard ship "Midnatsol" in Arctic Norway, November-December 2009.
http://aiep.state.gov/
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
ist, working mainly in the landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
genre. His oil painting
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
s document both New York’s cityscapes and wilderness locations in North
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
.
Biography
Gregory Frux was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 25, 1958. His father was an engineerEngineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and later school teacher who emigrated from Lvov, Poland in August 1939. His mother was grade school math teacher, who later taught adult literacy. It was through their teaching and example that Frux developed his passion for art and for his native city. Gregory Frux married artist Janet Ellen Morgan
Janet Ellen Morgan
Janet Ellen Morgan is an expressionist artist, working in landscape and figurative genres, with additional experience in book illustration and theatrical design....
in 1990.
Frux pursued art training art at the Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
Art School, Art Students League
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
and National Academy of Design
National Academy of Design
The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...
where he studied with Harvey Dinnerstein
Harvey Dinnerstein
Harvey Dinnerstein , is a figurative artist and educator. A draftsman and painter in the realistic tradition, his work has included genre paintings, contemporary narratives, complex figurative compositions, portraits, and intimate images of his family and friends.Dinnerstein was born in Brooklyn,...
while simultaneously earning a Bachelor of Architecture
Bachelor of Architecture
The Bachelor of Architecture is an undergraduate academic degree designed to satisfy the academic component of professional accreditation bodies, to be followed by a period of practical training prior to professional examination and registration. It is awarded for a course of study that lasts up...
and subsequent license as an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
. From 1983 to 1989 Frux worked as an Architect for the New York City Board of Education
New York City Board of Education
The New York City Board of Education is the governing body of the New York City Department of Education. The members of the board are appointed by the mayor and by the five borough presidents.-Rise, fall and return of Mayoral Control:...
(BOE) designing school additions and modernizations. In order to pursue his passion for art in public schools, in 1989 Frux moved to the newly created Public Art for Public Schools unit of the BOE, which is responsible for protection of 1500 works of art owned The City of New York. As a curator Frux catalogued, protected and helped conserved this significant collection from 1989 to 2006.
While working for the Board of Education, Frux completed his Master of Fine Arts from Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
in 1986, studying with noted realist Lennart Anderson. After coursework in Carrara, Italy in 1984 he became increasingly dedicated to outdoor painting. Frux worked most often in Lower Manhattan, along the East River, and in Brooklyn’s Park Slope, Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
and on the Gowanus Canal
Gowanus Canal
The Gowanus Canal, also known as the Gowanus Creek Canal, is a canal in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, geographically on the westernmost portion of Long Island...
, painting on site in oils. Frux is deeply engaged with the layers of urban history seen in abandoned and repurposed buildings, industrial architecture , and the resurgence of nature along the harbor. His cityscapes have received recognition with exhibitions at Brooklyn Borough Hall, Brooklyn College, the Coney Island Museum http://www.coneyisland.com/museum.shtml, Long Island University, Central Library Brooklyn Public Library, The Tabla Rasa Gallery and a commission by the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/posters/posters.html?year=1999.
Frux is deeply interested in the wilderness both aesthetically and as mountaineer. His climbing career has dovetailed with creative work in increasingly remote locations. Frux has served as artist in residence in four national park units: Weir Farm National Historic Site in Wilton, Ct, Glacier National Park, Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley National Park.
He has painted in the Rockies, Andes, Sierra Nevada, and Mohave Desert, including ‘portraits’ of significant peaks such as Cerro Fitzroy, Sajama and Lotus Flower Tower. This work have been included in the permanent collection of the National Park Service and exhibited by the American Alpine Club
American Alpine Club
The American Alpine Club, or AAC, was founded in 1902 by Charles Ernest Fay, and is the leading national organization in the United States devoted to mountaineering, climbing, and the multitude of issues facing climbers...
. In December 2007 Frux traveled as artist in residence aboard the cruise ship Orlova to the Antarctic Peninsula http://www.theme.com.au/site/polar/files/Orlova_Trip_Report.pdf; his paintings of "Half Moon Bay, South Shetland Islands" have been published as a print. He worked as an artist aboard ship "Midnatsol" in Arctic Norway, November-December 2009.
Publications
- 1999 - “Putting the glow on the Big Apple” http://www.afscme.org/publications/8247.cfm
- 2000 - "NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: PARK SLOPE; In Praise of Urban Landscape"
- 2004-05 - "Journey to the Lotus" and cover artist of Whole Terrain's volume on 'Risk' http://www.wholeterrain.org/issue_13/
- 2005 - “Death Valley National Park hosts visiting artists” Pahrump Valley Timesh
- In October 2010, Ann Japenga published an article about the work of Mr. Frux and his wife, Janet E. Morgan, titled, "Janet Morgan and Gregory Frux: Bringing Back Expedition Art".
- Contributing Writer for Professional Artist magazine (formerly published title "Art Calendar")
Institutional Collections
- Death Valley National Park http://home.nps.gov/deva/parknews/upload/VisitingArtists06282005.pdf
- Joshua Tree National Park
- Glacier National Park
- Metrotech, B.I.D.
- National Museum of Art of Kyrgyzstan
- New York City Department of Education http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/SCA/Programs/PAPS/default.htm
- New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/posters/posters.html?year=1999&poster=17
- New York University—Fales Library and Special Collection http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/exhibits.html
- Universal Diagnostic Laboratories
- United States Library of Congress
Shown on loan
- United States Embassies in Madagascar and Ethiopia under the Federal Art in the Embassies Program
http://aiep.state.gov/
Private Collections
- Maria Henle (estate) artist & master printmaker http://www.mariahenlestudio.com/
- Nomi Silverman artist & printmaker http://nomisilverman.com/home.html
- Kevin Burke, President & CEO of Con Edison
- Samuel Delany, Hugo Award winning science fiction author and scholar http://www2.pcc.com/staff/jay/delany/photos.html
- Steven Larsen, author of Shaman's Doorway, Center for Symbolic Studies
- Warrington Colescott Warrington ColescottWarrington ColescottWarrington Colescott is an American artist best known for his satirical etchings. He lives and works in Hollandale, Wisconsin where he and his wife, artist Frances Myers, operate Mantegna Press.- Early life and influences :...
, master printmaker - Alex Grey, visionary artist http://www.alexgrey.com/
- Deborah Chaney, master printmaker http://gowanusstudio.org/wp/?p=233
External links
- Gregory Frux’s Home Page, Art and Adventures (http://frux.net/)
- Art and Adventures (http://artandadventures.com/)
- Video “Wild and Human Landscapes” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iq2J9YbhZI)
- Public Art for Public Schools (http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/SCA/Programs/PAPS/default.htm)