Background
Todd Gray was born in 1954, in Los Angeles, California, United States.
24700 McBean Pkwy, Valencia, CA 91355, United States
In 1979, Todd received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Santa Clarita, California. Later, in 1989, he got a Master of Fine Arts degree from the same educational establishment.
1973
Todd Gray with Peter Grant, manager for Led Zeppelin. Photo by Neil Zlozower.
24700 McBean Pkwy, Valencia, CA 91355, United States
In 1979, Todd received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Santa Clarita, California. Later, in 1989, he got a Master of Fine Arts degree from the same educational establishment.
(This collection of unseen, intimate and joyful pictures o...)
This collection of unseen, intimate and joyful pictures of Michael, taken over a span of 10 years, reveal him at home, with his family and fans, in career-making live performances and the on the "Beat It" video shoot. A young man not much older than Jackson at the time they met, Gray brings unique insights to his time with the singer, contributing stories and context to the images, presenting a rare, intimate portrait of Jackson at a creative peak as he grew from a brilliantly talented young man into a pop icon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811875067/?tag=2022091-20
2009
Todd Gray was born in 1954, in Los Angeles, California, United States.
In 1979, Todd received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Santa Clarita, California. Later, in 1989, he got a Master of Fine Arts degree from the same educational establishment.
Todd got acquainted with a photography, when he was a high school student. In the early 1970's, he began working as a commercial photographer in the music industry. He took pictures of different rock and R&B bands, such as the Jackson 5, as well as famous people, including Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and others.
When Todd was seventeen years old, he produced his first album cover. He continued to do so throughout the 1970's. At that time, he received enough money to be able to pay for his studies himself.
During the period from 1979 till 1983, Gray acted as Michael Jackson's personal photographer. In July 2007, hr participated in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence program.
Todd also held a post of a visiting artist, working at different educational establishments, including the Academy of Media Arts Cologne in 2001, 2002, and 2004; Claremont Graduate School in 2002; New York University's academic center in Accra in 2005 and others.
During his career, Todd took part in numerous solo and group exhibitions, held at different venues, including the Studio Museum, Harlem, New York City; the Renaissance Society, University of Chicago; the Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco; the National Portrait Gallery, London; Grand Palais, Paris, and many others. In his 2017 exhibition at the Museum of the African Diaspora, Gray explored Michael Jackson in terms of "mental colonialism".
Currently, the artist divides his time between Los Angeles and Ghana.
Akwidaa: Phase Patterns, Unit Structures
Double
Flora Africanus (D.C.)
Manil
Maya Venus
Purnima
Slipping into Darkness, all the Honey Gone
Time Machine No. 5
Time Machine No. 1
Time Machine No. 2
"Gang Star
Bull 2
Cape Coast Cosmos
Atlanta by Boat
Sonic G's Crossing the Atlantic
Mirror Mirror
Afrotronic 8622
Conjur Man
Dream Man
Problem
Neo-Fascism
(This collection of unseen, intimate and joyful pictures o...)
2009Todd Gray reframes and recontextualizes images from his personal archive, that spans over forty years of his career as a photographer, sculptor and performance artist. His unique process of combining and layering a variety of images and fragments of images allows him the opportunity to create his own history and "my own position in the diaspora". Working with photographs of pop culture, documentary photographs of Ghana (where he keeps a studio), portraits of Michael Jackson, gang members from South Los Angeles and photo documentation from the Hubble telescope, Gray asserts what he refers to as his own polymorphous identity, that defies definition. Inspired by the work of cultural theorist Stuart Hall, Gray invites the viewer to participate in an "ever-unfinished conversation about identity and history".
Quotes from others about the person
"Critics have noted, that Gray's work is "fluent in cultural iconography, driven by introspection, and steeped in issues of corporate politics and racial identity", and that his self-portraits thwart a traditional read of the exterior likeness." — Amy M. Mooney