Daily Inspiration: Meet Robert Gray

Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Gray.

Hi Robert, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
That’s a great question! I feel like I have had many starts in my life, all leading me to the next new start. Every interaction and every experience can be the start of something if you take that first step. My photo journey started in Egypt in 2008. Although the touristy things were amazing to see, it was really the people that interested me the most. I can honestly say I had no idea what I was doing, but I was fascinated and captured the environment around me. It was a turning point for me really. I grabbed a Sony point and shoot on the way to the airport, and the most epic adventure. I took a pause on my photo storytelling and really dove in a few years later while I was on a work trip. I studied the craft and bought a Canon T3i. I eventually took a Film photography course at UCCS and ended up having my first art show before the class was over. After that, I decided I was going to minor in art while majoring in Engineering. It really helped me balance out my brain.

In 2016, I started working on a tableaux series using my 35mm film camera to help me work through my past. On 08/26/17, I showed my masterpiece in an Abandoned Newspaper factory with the help from friends to include Mr. Kristopher who was an EDM artist in Brooklyn at the time. By 2018, it was on display in a known local Art gallery and in an International Art Catalogue. This was a major milestone for me. It was personal and the only style I get nervous about showing. There is a lot of growth happening when trauma and triggers are recreated. There is even more growth when other people connect and tell their stories.

This show was titled E=Motion to represent the Energy and motion to work on oneself. I was accompanied by a DJ in Denver that I had been working with. His main focus was to shift emotions through sound. Every piece was titled The pick a number Untitled Emotion so that I don’t tell you what to feel. They went from First through the Eleventh, and Thirteenth through Twenty, and The Last Untitled Emotion. The twelfth untitled emotion was mine and I wore a name tag that said as much. As artists, we are always imprinting ourselves in our work. This one was no different. People told me their stories and people cried. E=MOTION started the movement in my direction to help others work through their traumas and triggers. All of my Tableaux are layered and an experience on opening night. I want my audience to be a part of the experience and part of the art.

The Tableaux that I create became a word of mouth and really still is. Now, I have a team that helps me if I need it. This type of art has also led me to teach Veterans resiliency and how to get out of their heads. I have also taught the staff at UCCS my technique and will be teaching a two-day workshop at a Resiliency Symposium, as well as a five-day Residency course for them in the future.

Holding a camera is a powerful thing. It’s a shield from the public when you don’t want to be in it. Street Photography does that for me. I am often found holding my Ricoh Gr when I am out in public, especially when I am out traveling. Angles, lines, and shadows are my favorite to accompany the story that is unfolding in front of us. I tend to view life in general as a story and I try to capture the day to day to reflect that. There of course is the main character, but I do try to have two supporting characters in every capture. Sometimes it’s people, and sometimes it’s inanimate objects. Either way, there is a story to be told, emotions to feel, and growth to be had.

Jump to the now, and I am the current President of the Pikes Peak Arts Council, an Artist, and a Leader in my community.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have been the disappointments along the way, but once I really sat with myself, like really listen, like no joke turn my brain off and just listen, everything started flowing smoothly.

Something I learned early on, is to not be in a mindset that you must stay true to the storyboard. It is a rough sketch and directions, but not an absolute. Especially when there are elements outside of your control. Try to be adaptable, if it looks forced, you have lost your story. I also do not tell the actor/actresses the story we are shooting until right before the start of the scene to minimize overthinking. The human element is a beautiful thing, and I want to capture the raw response.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I like to focus on the human condition. In storytelling in the sense of Tableaux or through Street photography. I really like the pure and rawness of it all.

I am really proud of the Mental Health Work that I do through Art. I feel like I can make the biggest impact in people’s lives that way. By helping one person or a few at a time. It all trickles down with every conversation after that. Especially at my art openings when they connect with the story and then they tell me their story. It’s a domino effect of self-growth.

I cannot honestly say what sets me apart from others, We all imprint a little of ourselves in every piece of art that we create and we all have something to say.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
Our art community is fabulously Amazing! I have learned so much from so many people. I learned how to prepare my Art to show in Galleries from Kathleen McFadden of Range Gallery. Not only does she print all of my digital photos, but she also taught me how to properly prepare my artwork for a gallery. She is a fabulous mentor and a fabulous friend.

Abigail Kreuser of Kreuser Gallery has also played a huge part of where I am as an artist and an art leader in Colorado Springs. My very first art show was at Abigail’s Gallery. I remember being so nervous dropping art off for that open call. It was a rebirth theme if I remember correctly. The opening was the week before my birthday. Here we are many, many years later and she still just as big of an influence to me now, if not more. What she does for our community is utterly amazing.

My leadership style actually comes from my other life as an Engineer. It is very much from a Servant Leadership perspective. I try to guide people in such a way that it encourages and empowers them. That’s my hope anyway.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.grayelementsart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grayelementsart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GrayElementsArt/ 

Image Credits
All Credits belong to Robert Gray, except the portrait of Robert. The portrait of Robert credit goes to Pamela James.