In the 2000s, Gregory continued his exploration of line color and form. He began to work with casein paint on fine cotton and canvas. He was impressed with casein's rich, matte quality and he liked its higher level of health safety, compared with oil and acrylic paints.
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Size: 26" x 36"
Medium: Casein and Crayon on Russian Cotton
Date: 2003
Size: 38" x 31"
Medium: Casein on canvas
Date: 2007
Unstretched
Medium: Casein on canvas
Date: 2009
Size: 30.5” x 37.5”
Medium: Casein on canvas
Date: 05-28-08
Size: 34” x 32”
Medium: Casein and crayon on cotton canvas
Size: 35” x 32”
Medium: Casein and crayon on cotton canvas
Size: 30.5” x 38”
Medium: Casein, oilstick on canvas
Date: 04-06-08
Size: 32” x 36”
Medium: Casein and crayon on cotton canvas
Size: 37" x 30"
Medium: Casein and crayon on canvas
Date: 01-13-07
Size: 28” x 31”
Medium: Casein on canvas
Date: 07-28-08
Size: 34” x 32”
Medium: Casein and crayon on cotton canvas
Size: 31” x 37”
Medium: Casein and crayon on cotton canvas
Date: 2004
Size: 36” x 32”
Medium: Casein and crayon on cotton canvas
Date: 2004
In 1999, Gregory continued his built work with a striking series of 12 painted reliefs called the MISNOMER series, which combine wooden, cord and metal 3-D elements with dramatically textured uses of color paint. All 12 are 32” x 48” x 1.75" with extrusions.
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Size: 32” x 48”
Medium: Painted Relief
Size: 32” x 48”
Medium: Painted Relief
Date: 06-23-00
Size: 32” x 48”
Medium: Painted Relief
Size: 32” x 48”
Medium: Painted Relief
Size: 32” x 48”
Medium: Painted Relief
Size: 32” x 48” x 1.75"
Medium: Painted Wood Relief with Nautical Line
Year: 2002
Size: 32” x 48”
Medium: Painted Relief
Size: 32” x 48”
Medium: Painted Relief
Date: 12-31-00
Size: 32” x 48”
Medium: Painted Relief
Date: 02-19-01
Size: 32” x 48”
Medium: Painted Relief
Date: 02-02-00
Size: 32” x 48”
Medium: Painted Relief
Date: 06-15-01
Medium: Painted Relief
Medium: Painted Relief
Medium: Painted Relief
Medium: Painted Relief
Medium: Painted Relief
Medium: Painted Relief
Size: 32” x 48”
Medium: Painted Relief
Date: 09-16-00
Medium: Painted Relief
Medium: Painted Relief
In the 1990s, Gregory focused on developing methods for working with enamels, both on paper and on canvas. The work varies across a wide spectrum of sizes, from note book sized work on paper to canvased up to 8' x 10'.
An ingenious experimenter, Gregory used of quick-drying oil enamels (largely black and white), combined with an alkyd resin. Commenting later on his enamel work, he explained “I…found that the brush was not direct enough for me. I couldn’t get the immediacy of line that I was looking for.”
To fix that, he developed a pressure-pouring method of applying paint from a rolling bridge seat that moved horizontally across big canvases laid flat. This allowed him “to maintain, and vary, a stream of enamel. I always make a complete work each time, with no changes. If I reject the attempt, the canvas is painted over and used again for a later work. As a result, there are linear, relief-like shapes underneath the final layer of enamel in many of my paintings.”
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Size: 16” x 20”
Medium: Enamel on paper
Date: 1991
Medium: Enamel on Canvas
Size: 36" x 48"
Date: 1993
Size: 18" x 24"
Medium: Enamel on Arches Paper
Date: 1991
Size: 36” x 48”
Medium: Oils on canvas
Date: 1994
Size: 36" x 48"
Medium: Enamel on Linen Canvas
Date: 1989
Size: 23" x 30"
Medium: Enamel on paper
Date: 1993
Size: 42” x 56” Medium: Enamel on canvas
Date: 1989
Size: 48" x 68"
Medium: Oils on Linen Canvas
Year: 1994
Size: 22" x 30"
Medium: Enamel on Paper
Date: 1991
Size: 63” x 66”
Medium: Oils on Linen Canvas
Date: 1989
In the 1980s, Gregory pushed his exploration of dimensionality of line in his work to include sand. Here he mixed sand with paint and developed a special spray system to force the heavy material across sometimes very large canvases (up to 8' x 10'). He worked by positioning the canvas horizontally and placing the nautical line, or rubber line as desired. He sprayed the paint at a very low trajectory as he rolled across and above the canvas. Thus he built up areas of paint against the 3-d line in varying thicknesses, creating a variety of effects with color and form.
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Acrylic Paint mixed with sand, nautical line
Size: 54" x 20"
Date: c. 1981
Acrylic paint mixed with sand, nautical line
Size: Approx. 48" x 30"
Date: c. 1982
Acrylic paint mixed with sand, nautical line
Size: Approx. 48" x 30"
Date: c. 1982
Acrylic paint on canvas
Size: 47" x 81"
Date: 1980
Size: 76" x 91"
Medium: Acrylic Polymer & Dimensional Line on Canvas
Date: 1981
In the 1970's Gregory continued his abstract work focused on large works in acrylic sprayed across canvas, incorporating line. In the mid- and late-1970s, he developed new styles in collage, always incorporating line, and what he called "wide brushstroke paintings."
Continuing his exploration of possibilities in 3-D abstraction, Gregory created a series of found-wood sculptures. Many of these sculptures included moveable parts, offering "changeable" art requiring the participation of the viewer.
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By the early 1960s, Gregory had fully developed his signature style of drawing and painting that expressed the interior and exterior of a figure by means of line, without reliance on the edges of form. The result was a curvilinear “abstraction” with little discernable reference to its origin, but energized by the connection to that source. By the mid 1960s and thereafter, his work focused on full abstraction.
In the mid 60s Gregory was building large "changeable" sculptural pieces that invited viewers’ participation.
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Size: 16 1/8" x 30 1/8"
Date: 1960
Four saxophone players
(B & W Photograph of Color Work)
Size: 76” x 126”
Medium: Acrylic polymer sprayed on canvas
Date: 1964
Size: 48” x 96”
Medium: Pegboard with rubber tubing
Date: 1966
Size: 127” x 144”
Medium: Canvas awning material, rubber tubing, wooden frame
Date: unavailable
Size: 120” x 42”
Medium: Canvas awning on wooden frame, rubber tubing
Date: 1965
Untitled, Portrait of Albert Einstein
Date: 1962
Ink on Paper
c. 1962
In the 1950s, Gregory moved from gouaches and representational drawings to a semi-abstract style. Subjects included:
Peacetime US Army Life (Germany, 1954-55)
Peasant Life in Sardinia - 1955-56
Jazz Musicians - 1957-59
Portraits of Jacqueline - 1954-59
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Size: 20 ½” x 16 ¾”
Medium: Gouache on paper
Date: 1956
Size: 10" x 14"
Medium: Graphite on Paper
Date: 1954
Medium: Collage of Paper, Staples, Color Pencil on Paper stapled to Beaver Board
Size: 15.25" x 20.25"
Date: 1956
Medium: Gouache on Paper
Date: 1955
Size: 10" x 14"
Medium: Graphite on Paper
Date: 1954
Medium: Gouache on paper
Date: 1955
10" x 14"
Ink on Paper
1955
Size: 10" x 14"
Medium: Graphite on Paper
Date: 1954
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10" x 14"
Graphite on Paper
1955
Drawing on Handmade Paper, II in a series of XVIII
1983
Size: 14" x 20"
Medium: Casein and crayon on Arches paper
Date: 2002
Size: 9" x 12"
Medium: Graphite on Arches Paper
Date: 1991
Size: 10" x 14"
Medium: Ink on Paper
Date: 1955
Size: 14" x 20"
Medium: Casein and crayon on Arches paper
Date: 2002
Size: 14" x 20"
Medium: Casein and crayon on Arches paper
Date: 2002
Size: 10" x 14"
Medium: Graphite on Paper
Date: 1955
Size: 14" x 20"
Medium: Casein and crayon on Arches paper
Date: 2002
Colored Pencil & Pastel on Paper
1962
Size: 10" x 14"
Medium: Graphite on Paper
Date: 1954
Along with his lifetime of studio work, Gregory had a prize-winning career as an editorial sculptor and graphic designer, including many busts of newsmakers published in Time, Look, Sports Illustrated, The Saturday Review and the Playboy Jazz and Pop Hall of Fame (all photographed by Seymour Mednick). His work is in many private collections and several museums, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the National Portrait Gallery.
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Playboy Jazz Hall of Fame
Date: 1967
Sculpture by Jack Gregory, Photo by Seymour Mednick.
Playboy Jazz & Pop Hall of Fame
Sculpture by Jack Gregory, Photo by Seymour Mednick
Date: 1967
Sample piece for "Time" magazine article
Date: c. 1962
Illustration for Look Magazine article
Date: June 1962
The Mafia v. America
Date: August 22, 1969
Photographed by Seymour Mednick
1974
Sculpture: Jack Gregory
Photography: Seymour Mednick
Sam Maitin, Seymour Mednick, Emile Laugier, Alan Klawans, Jack Gregory (sunglasses), Neal Siegel & Bob Jackson.