Grant COHEN
Born 1968 Melbourne Australia
1985 - Studied Photography HSC Wesley College Melbourne Australia
1986 – 1988 Studied Business Accounting Monash University Melbourne Australia
1989 – Studied 19th and 20th Century Decorative Arts Sotheby’s London England
1990 – 2006 Worked in family business until business bought out by private equity
2006 – Immersed himself in his passion.
Since the young age of 14 Grant Anthony was interested in the arts. He would spend countless hours at the art auction houses and galleries familiarising himself with Australian Fine and Decorative Arts. He purchased his first painting at the age of 15 and now has amassed an important Australian fine art collection over the past 25 years.
After studying accounting at MonashUniversity, Grant switched his real interests to the Arts and was accepted into Sotheby’s InternationalArtsSchool base in London to study 19th and 20th Century Decorative Arts. Spending countless hours in the back rooms of the V&AMuseum in London Grant discovered a real passion for the decorative arts. The famous designers of the 19th and 20th century of continental Europe became Grant’s obsession. It is their aesthetic that has shaped his present understanding of shape and form, this influence ever present in each art work and a delight for all those who recognise them.
His real obsession was always the arts, but he joined the family business aged 20 until 2006 when the business, a retail chain of some 160 stores across Australia was bought out by private equity.
Since the sale of the family business, Grant has spent much time overseas setting up a studio, and with his talented skill of colour choice, eye for detail, pattern and composition his works are totally unique in imagery.
Grant’s works are able to be viewed from afar and up close evincing two different emotions and reactions. From a distance, the works seem to blend in together to create a harmonious interior scene. However up close things change quite dramatically. A sense of intense repeating pattern work and his eye for detail overwhelms the viewer.
Grant has been influenced by a key number of designers in various fields. William Morris for his exquisite timeless wall paper patterns, Minton and Co. 1850-60 for the geometric patterned tiles, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe for his now iconic furniture to little known Jean Perzel for principally his geometric lamp shades produced in Paris during the 1920s.
Grant has also been largely influenced by Australia’s own Howard Arkley with his large scale interiors and Netherlands artist M.C. Escher who produced wood engravings and lithographs during the first half of the 20th century which focus on intense detail, intricate repeating pattern and graphic design.
Grant Anthony’s works, instantly recognisable and unique, delight all who see them and remind us that even the most mundane image can evoke such interest.