The Tattoo Artist, 1981

Charles Rogers "Red" Grooms is a pop/modern artist. The Tennessee-born Grooms has received accolades for his work in painting, printmaking, sculpture and filmmaking. Grooms attended the Art Institute of Chicago before moving to New York where he received further artistic instruction at the New School. Red Grooms works often depict modern, urban life, or the humble surroundings of his rural Tennessee upbringing. Some of his famous works include the 1967 piece 'William Penn Shaking Hands With The Indians,' 'The City of Chicago,' which he also completed in 1967, the 1975 piece 'Ruckus Manhattan,' and his 1998 creation 'Tennessee Foxtrot Carousel.' Grooms has been compared to William Hogarth, Honore Daumier and Marcel Duchamp. Red Grooms's work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the United States, Europe and Japan and been featured in museums including like the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Carnegie Museum of Art. Grooms is also known for his involvement with motion pictures. He starred in the biographical feature "Red Grooms: Sunflower in A Hothouse," in addition to the short film "Secret Of Wendel Samson," in which Grooms portrayed the title character. In 2003, Red Grooms was bestowed a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Institute of Design.