Interviews with Christy D. – Laurence Gartel- First Interview

Christy Denbrock interviews award winning artist Laurence Gartel…..Laurence Gartel (born June 5, 1956) is considered a pioneer of Digital Art. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, USA, Joan Whitney Payson Gallery in Portland Maine, Long Beach Museum of Art, Princeton Art Museum, PS 1, Norton Museum and in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History and the Bibliotheque Nationale.

Born and raised in New York City, Gartel had the opportunity to teach Andy Warhol how to use the Amiga Computer, went to School of Visual Arts, with fellow art student, graffiti artist Keith Haring, where he earned his BFA degree majoring in Graphics, and started his electronic career working side by side with Nam June Paik at Media Study/Buffalo in upstate New York. Gartel had many associations with musicians such as Debbie Harry (Blondie) Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols), Stiv Bators (Dead Boys) Johnny Thunders (New York Dolls), Ace Frehley (Kiss) and Wendy O Williams (Plasmatics). Gartel has created artwork for such Pop Culture stars such as Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. GARTEL is the OFFICIAL ARTIST of the 57th ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS, STAPLE CENTER LOS ANGELES, FEBRUARY 8, 2015, CBS Television 8PM – E.S.T. Gartel was the Artist on the NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) launch at Kennedy Space Center on March 12th. He was also the Artist of the Newport Jazz Festival 2015. Mr. Gartel has created the Official Art for the Angel Awards, Monaco International Film Festival 2015.

One of Gartel’s most memorable campaigns was the one he designed for Absolut Vodka in 1990, joining world famous artists such as painter Andy Warhol and glass artist Hans Godo Frabel. These ads are considered to be the first digital art ads.  For more info, see the Absolut Vodka Artists website GARTEL has created ground breaking artworks for the National Basketball Association, Walt Disney Corporation, FORBES Magazine, Coca Cola, Philip Morris and many others.

GARTEL has spent the last several years creating Art Cars the first one being commissioned by TESLA during Art Basel Miami Beach in 2010. since then he has produced dozens of Art Cars in the form of Ferrari Scuderia, Rolls Royce, classic 1957 Lincoln Premiere Convertible, 1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine, and others. Mr. GARTEL was the “FEATURE” of the 113th New York International Auto Show with his own Pavilion at the Jacob Javits Center, 2013. His most recent Art Car is a RENNtech Mercedes SL 65 V-12 Bi-turbo unveiled at exclusive Fisher Island during Art Basel Miami Beach, 2014. Gartel created the first National State Art Car at the Capital Building in Concord, unveiling with New Hamsphire Governor Maggie Hassan in the summer of 2015. Gartel was recently the Visionary of the 3D Print Conference in Santa Clara, California.

His biography is included in “Who’s Who,” “Who’s Who in the East,” “Who’s Who in America,” “Who’s Who in American Art,” and “Who’s Who in the World.”