Larry Grossman’s professional art career began at age 15 when he purchased his first airbrush and began painting wild designs on T-shirts at car shows, occasionally working for George Barris, the famed “King of the Kustomizers”. This early income enabled him to buy his first car, a “Vette” powered ’29 Ford hot rod. Moving from L.A. to Berkeley in the psychedelic 60’s, he studied film and photography, graduating from the California College of the Arts. “Rude Vagabond”, an animated film he single handedly created won the Grand Prize at the joint CCAC/San Francisco Art Institute Film Festival. He also wrote, directed and produced the cult feature film “The Big Sleeze”. Both films have toured extensively on the national “Midnight Movie” circuit.
In 1981 the Disney Studios enticed Larry back to L.A. to work as a designer on their landmark first computerized film, “TRON”. Freelancing in the 80’s and 90’s he created many logos, illustrations, and merchandise designs for major studios including Disney, Warner Bros., and DreamWorks. He also illustrated three album covers for legendary musician Frank Zappa, and one for Hank Williams Jr.. Through his firm “Art Attack” Larry also designed and sold innovative giftware, furniture, and other interior decor.
In the early ’90’s Larry became enthralled with the creative potential of the computer, and eventually put his airbrush aside. Utilizing both his painting and photo skills, he began creating innovative digital art which combines his love of cars and architecture and his passion for the styles of the 1920’s-50’s (he currently drives a ’32 Ford rod and a self-retored ’61 Nash Metro convertible, and also collects vintage clothes). Over the years he has amassed an extensive catalog of his own photos, which he now uses (exclusively) to create his art in an entirely new and imaginative way. Combining these photos with state of the art digital painting techniques, he has created a look and style uniquely his own.
Larry’s artwork is distributed through his company “RetroVisions” and has become quite collectable. It is currently exhibited at galleries and museums worldwide, including the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Museum in Pomona CA, and the famed Petersen Automotive Museum in L.A.. His images are also licensed for many products such as puzzles, metal signs, and much more. Recently Larry was thrilled to have been commissioned to create custom pictures for two legends of hot rod culture: one for Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s widow, and one for his old pal George Barris. Both pictures are available on this website. In addition, Larry created the cover art for the last book about Barris, published by George’s son Brett.
