Grant Collier is an American artist born into a family of artists. He grew up surrounded by painting and an early appreciation for the emotional power of imagery. He learned traditional methods of painting, composition, and color theory from his father and older brother, later graduating with honors from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, where his training in fine art and storytelling first converged.
After art school, Collier worked in film and animation, creating music videos and short films for Warner Bros. Records and American Recordings before signing with DNA Films in Hollywood. His creative path eventually led him to New York, where he served as Creative Director at leading agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and Ogilvy & Mather. Following a successful career in that field, he turned his full attention to fine art.
Now working as a multimedia artist, Collier explores the internal and external narratives of human experience through painting, sculpture, and animation. His work examines identity, consciousness, and the body’s role as both vessel and storyteller. Raised in a close-knit religious community where he was taught “to be in the world but not of it,” left an imprint—one that made him an observer of people and their rituals of meaning and belonging. This habit of observation—a way of seeing that evolved into a lifelong creative inquiry.
Collier’s work often begins in the real world and drifts toward the dreamlike, much like how the poet Billy Collins describes starting in Kansas and ending in Oz. “Beauty matters to me,” he says, “but it’s not always polished. Sometimes it shows up in the strange, the quiet, or the unexpected.” His paintings evoke rather than describe, inviting a quiet emotional response. Through his interplay of light, form, and story, Collier searches for “the invisible thread that runs through all of us”—a sense of awareness or presence connecting both people and place.
Selected Exhibitions
2025 — Nickey Kehoe, New York, NY
2025 — Nickey Kehoe, Los Angeles, CA
2019 — MvVo Art, New York, NY
2013 — Chase Randall Gallery, Andes, NY
2010 — Chase Randall Gallery, Andes, NY
2008 — Chase Randall Gallery, Andes, NY
2007 — EFA Studio, New York, NY
2000 — Shoal Creek Gallery, Austin, TX
1996 — Thomas Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1993 — Tatischeff Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1991 — Williamson Gallery, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
1990 — Mary Pickford Foundation, Beverly Hills, CA