Rob was signed to RCA Records before his 21st birthday. He began writing songs to cope with his parents divorce at age 16, and found himself on a wild ride of making albums, videos, touring and appearing on MTV. During days off on tour, while his bandmates were sightseeing or at local malls, he visited museums.
His interest in visual art grew, and in 2010, Rob created his first solo show which featured images he shot during his travels, layers of plexiglass, and other materials. Since then, his work has become more complex and sculptural, combining multiple shapes, layers and images, with his abstract paintings and words.
Rob has shown during Art Basel, Switzerland, SCOPE Miami, and the LA Art Show. He exhibits internationally, and his work hangs in the San Francisco Airport, The Avedis Zildjian Company in Boston, and the Griffin Club in Los Angeles among others. He is currently working on two large scale commission projects that will be installed in the Fall of 2019, and recently completed a video project for TikTok China.
Rob gave a TEDx Talk in Culver City, CA about authenticity in art and following the internal muse. He also writes a blog about his art practice called The Creativesphere, and speaks to students in schools about the importance of learning to think creatively not only in making art, but how it relates to solving problems in today’s culture and society.
Awards
2015 Beverly Hills Art Show “New Media” – 1st place – Beverly Hills, CA
2010 Fantabulous, Feed the Soul – 2nd place Juried Exhibition – Sarasota, FL
2006 UCLA Barry Manilow lyric scholarship
2006 Unisong Contest “Reminds Me of You” – 1st place – Los Angeles, CA
Solo Exhibitions
2019 Finding Foreverland – Museum of Art and History (MOAH), Lancaster, CA
2019 Overthrow the Quo – Fabrik Projects, Culver City, CA
2018 I Got This – Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
2012 Trust – Frame Gallery, Agoura, CA
Leftovers – Jones, Pasadena, CA
2011 Door No. 1 – Alexandria Hotel, Los Angeles, CA
2010 NOW – Blue 5 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
NOW – Sydney and Berne Davis Art Center, Fort Myers, FL
Group Exhibitions
2018 All of Us – REN Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2017 California Rising – Fabrik Projects Gallery, Culver City, CA
Street Chic – REN Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
LACP Member Exhibition – dnj Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Ping Pong – Basel, Switzerland
Abstracts – Beyond the Lines Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Ping Pong – LA Art Show, Los Angeles, CA
2016 National Photography Competition – foto foto gallery, Huntington, NY
Contenance Devine – Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
Open Desert – Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA
Transparency – SugarMynt Gallery, South Pasadena, CA
Tempest – Downey Theater, Downey, CA
2015 Chestnuts – Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
Where the Magic Happens – Gallery H, Hawthorne, CA
Strength in Numbers – REN Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Back to the Roots: A Tribute to Richard Duardo – Autry Historic Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Variable Voices – Lamperouge, Los Angeles, CA
5×10: Contemporary – ArtXchange, Long Beach, CA
2014 Out There: I Do – Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
Serendipity – Create:Fixate, Los Angeles, CA
Conversations and Dialogues – Keystone Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2013 Trust (Selected works) – Antenna Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Trust (Selected works) – Ziese Architecture Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Get Art 6 – Siren Studios, Hollywood, CA
Good Vibes for Good Deeds – KESSPRO Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Visual Dialogues – Sulkin/Secant Gallery Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA
Gleaming Apollo – Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
Words on the Printed Page – Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
Unseen – Wuho Gallery, Hollywood, CA
2012 Get Art 5 – Siren Studios, Hollywood, CA
2011 Open Borders LA – Thousand Oaks, CA
The Doors of Opportunity – The Broadway Palm Gallery, Fort Myers, FL
Feed The Soul – Sarasota Art Center, Sarasota, FL
Open LA – Urban Sanctuary, Los Angeles, CA
Studio City Art and Music Festival – Studio City, CA
2010 The Doors of Opportunity – Fort Myers, FL
Collaborative Projects
2019 Crazy to Give Up Now – TikTok, China (TikTok commissioned video with movie director, Ann Lu)
2015 VS – Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
2012 Allez/Of Two – Paris, France (performance in collaboration with OIDEM and the city of Paris)
Commissions
2019 Hudson Pacific Properties, Los Angeles, CA
2019 El Rancho Verde Properties, San Jose, CA
2014 Urban Tortilla, San Francisco International Airport
2013 Vic Firth Company, Boston, MA
Global Icons, Los Angeles, CA
2012 Sakae Drums, Osaka, JAPAN
Interviews, Lectures
2019 Unsettled Life, interview – https://beunsettled.co/blog/making-what-you-want-to-see-in-the-world-with-artist-musician-rob-grad/
2015 El Camino College, lecture – Master Class Advanced Photography
2013 TEDx Culver City, lecture – youtu.be/T7GIxYsamCE
AOL Music interview – noisecreep.com/kik-tracee-rob-grad
El Camino College, lecture – Non-traditional photography techniques
2012 Marty ‘O’ show at yfnRadio.com, interview
Cool Change Radio interview
2011 FOX News, Fort Myers, FL interview
Cypress Lake High School, lecture – Using technology as a tool of communication
2010 9th Wave Women’s group lecture – Changing career and lifestyle
Gulf Coasting News, Tampa, FL interview
2009 CBS TV, Daily Buzz, Dallas, TX interview – youtu.be/2YilGpMBqok
CBS TV, WINK News Ft. Myers, FL interview – youtu.be/D1UP0Cz2Ro8
Gulf Coast Times, Ft. Myers, FL interview
Work Experience
2003-Present Ideas Agency – Owner
1995-2003 Superfine – Singer, songwriter
1998-2001 Open Systems Design – Programmer
1997-1998 Cellfish Designs – Owner
1994-1996 Wilshire Book Company – Editor, clerk
1989 RCA Records – Signed with Kik Tracee band
Related Activities
Selected Music Credits: 1996 Buffy The Vampire Slayer (WB), 1998 Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack (TVT Records), 2007 Emeril (FOOD), 2007 LA Ink (TLC), 2008 One Tree Hill (WB), 2008 The Ghost Whisperer (CBS), 2007 Intervention (HBO), America’s Most Wanted (FOX), 2005 Starting Over (NBC), 2006 Meet The Barkers (MTV), 2010 Dancing With the Stars (ABC), 2004 Urban Explorers (Discovery Channel), 1989-1993 Kik Tracee (RCA Records), 1996-2003 Superfine (Fish of Death Records / TVT Records), 2002 The Nervous Return (LaSalle Records)
2002-2009 Commercial music work for clients including: Chevy, Mercedes Benz, Microsoft, Mattel, Fox Sports, Six Flags, Progressive Insurance, Pontiac, Drum Workshop, Coors Light
Affiliations
Los Angeles Artists’ Association
Arroyo Arts Collective