contact info

VISITORS: Tours of the studio are always available. Text or message if you'd like to see what was LITERALLY created from the ashes of Hurricane Ida.

(These updates are posted daily)

Contact Information

Grey Cross Studios
1920 4th St, New Orleans , LA 70113
Email: gcsartno@aol.com
Send text messages to 504-874-2908, Instagram @GreyCrossStudios, Facebook Grey Anatoli Cross, Threads @greycrossstudios

Saturday, December 7, 2024

CHILDREN OF THE STREET - Songs of the Homeless (Art & Micro-Verse Merged)


This is my tribe

It keeps me warm when the cold rain comes
It keeps me fed when we scavenge in the streets
It keeps me laughing when there is nothing but misery each day
It keeps companionship around me when I am lonely
It keeps me from losing my mind completely
It keeps me from forgetting that I am only 12 when I feel 100

This is my tribe

This is a series composed of art and what I call micro-verse. I attempt to augment the art through words written spontaneously to match that art. Micro-verse is meant to take you to a deeper place of meaning within the art. If the images and words are offensive, just remember that not all art is meant to be cute. Some is meant to make you think and sometimes to even take offense.

CLOSING IN ON ETERNITY (The World of Abstract Prurience)

 


What is Abstract Prurience?

Abstract Prurience is an art concept that changes the human nude body and expressions of sex into an abstract art form. It takes ideas of nudity and sex and transforms it into the world of dreamlike abstraction. It removes the stigma of body shyness and allows a person to view the human body as the art form it has always been. It removes gender to the point where the viewer is often unsure if there is even a gender identity to the figures.  

MINOR LEAGUE TALENT (The World of Abstract Prurience)

 


What is Abstract Prurience?

Abstract Prurience is an art concept that changes the human nude body and expressions of sex into an abstract art form. It takes ideas of nudity and sex and transforms it into the world of dreamlike abstraction. It removes the stigma of body shyness and allows a person to view the human body as the art form it has always been. It removes gender to the point where the viewer is often unsure if there is even a gender identity to the figures. 

GATEWAY (The World of Abstract Prurience)

 


What is Abstract Prurience?

Abstract Prurience is an art concept that changes the human nude body and expressions of sex into an abstract art form. It takes ideas of nudity and sex and transforms it into the world of dreamlike abstraction. It removes the stigma of body shyness and allows a person to view the human body as the art form it has always been. It removes gender to the point where the viewer is often unsure if there is even a gender identity to the figures.  

IN MY SIGHTS (The World of Abstract Prurience)

 


What is Abstract Prurience?

Abstract Prurience is an art concept that changes the human nude body and expressions of sex into an abstract art form. It takes ideas of nudity and sex and transforms it into the world of dreamlike abstraction. It removes the stigma of body shyness and allows a person to view the human body as the art form it has always been. It removes gender to the point where the viewer is often unsure if there is even a gender identity to the figures.  

THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN (The World of Abstract Prurience)

 


What is Abstract Prurience?

Abstract Prurience is an art concept that changes the human nude body and expressions of sex into an abstract art form. It takes ideas of nudity and sex and transforms it into the world of dreamlike abstraction. It removes the stigma of body shyness and allows a person to view the human body as the art form it has always been. It removes gender to the point where the viewer is often unsure if there is even a gender identity to the figures.  

PARTIAL ECLIPSE (The World of Abstract Prurience)


 What is Abstract Prurience?

Abstract Prurience is an art concept that changes the human nude body and expressions of sex into an abstract art form. It takes ideas of nudity and sex and transforms it into the world of dreamlike abstraction. It removes the stigma of body shyness and allows a person to view the human body as the art form it has always been. It removes gender to the point where the viewer is often unsure if there is even a gender identity to the figures. 

A BARKING DOG (The World of Abstract Prurience)

 


What is Abstract Prurience?

Abstract Prurience is an art concept that changes the human nude body and expressions of sex into an abstract art form. It takes ideas of nudity and sex and transforms it into the world of dreamlike abstraction. It removes the stigma of body shyness and allows a person to view the human body as the art form it has always been. It removes gender to the point where the viewer is often unsure if there is even a gender identity to the figures.  

THE OIL DERRICK (The World of Abstract Prurience)



What is Abstract Prurience?

Abstract Prurience is an art concept that changes the human nude body and expressions of sex into an abstract art form. It takes ideas of nudity and sex and transforms it into the world of dreamlike abstraction. It removes the stigma of body shyness and allows a person to view the human body as the art form it has always been. It removes gender to the point where the viewer is often unsure if there is even a gender identity to the figures. 

Monday, December 2, 2024

THE GHOST OF MONA LISA - Songs of the Homeless (Art & Micro-Verse Merged)

 


The sadness in her face is more than I can bare
The hopeless eyes
The mouth that once smiled
Each wrinkle telling a story of her personal hell
She is a child of the street
A lost beauty that is nearly gone
She rises in grace
Returning to the purgatory in which she exists
Once again lost in the maelstrom 

This is a series composed of art and what I call micro-verse. I attempt to augment the art through words written spontaneously to match that art. Micro-verse is meant to take you to a deeper place of meaning within the art. If the images and words are offensive, just remember that not all art is meant to be cute. Some is meant to make you think and sometimes to even take offense.

THE MONSTER OF VENICE BEACH - Songs of the Homeless (Art & Micro-Verse Merged)


 Do you know what its like to be laughed at by strangers?

To scare little children who pass you by?
To be arrested and labeled a likely suspect because I’m ugly?
To hear the whispers “he’s fat so he’s not really homeless”.

Do you feel my shame?
Do you see the way my face reddens, my eyes filling with tears?
Do you really have any idea of my humiliation?

Don’t claim to understand my pain! 
I refuse your pity
I have only impotent rage

This is a series composed of art and what I call micro-verse. I attempt to augment the art through words written spontaneously to match that art. Micro-verse is meant to take you to a deeper place of meaning within the art. If the images and words are offensive, just remember that not all art is meant to be cute. Some is meant to make you think and sometimes to even take offense.


ANOTHER COLD NIGHT - Songs of the Homeless (Art & Micro-Verse Merged)


 

Its never warm anymore
The ice encrusting my beard is the same that encrusts my soul
The night is the worst
I wander through the darkness in hopes of finding warmth
But there never is any
Morning comes and I seek a sunny bench
But they are all taken
I sleep in a cold alleyway behind a fish house
The smell keeps me awake
I stagger away knowing tomorrow will be the same


This is a series composed of art and what I call micro-verse. I attempt to augment the art through words written spontaneously to match that art. Micro-verse is meant to take you to a deeper place of meaning within the art. If the images and words are offensive, just remember that not all art is meant to be cute. Some is meant to make you think and sometimes to even take offense.

Sunday, December 1, 2024

I Bought a Dog (The Potential of Art)

 


I bought a dog yesterday. No it wasn't Halloween, it was actually the last day of November. Along with it I bought a bag full of plastic skulls. A creepy looking ceramic cup with a man's face on it. A box full of small plastic dinosaurs. And a selection of 20 spools of ribbon. These items take their place, along with hundreds of ancient books, a box full of tintype photos, real bones, a collection of colored sand and rock, a sculpture headless Asian woman. And these are just the items that catch my eye right now, in my studio. 

So what is the reason for this strange collection of items that now inhabit my studio? No I'm not a hoarder. Well... not in the traditional sense. This is what I call "the potential of art". 

I see possibilities to create new art in everything. It might be the old oyster sack blowing in the wind, I picked up last weekend on a trip to the gulf coast, or this beautiful dog skeleton. If there is a way to use something, I'll find it.

This isn't a hobby. This is an addiction. I can't help myself. I see art in everything around me. It may have already been art in a previous life, or a never before item that only a lunatic could see potential in. And its not only in items being re-tasked as art. Its the idea that the items may create an idea within me for something new. (Yeah that's a confusing thought I know). The item itself may never be used but the idea will be. And to take it a step further, this happens with everything I see. I may be looking at a website and suddenly a photo creates an idea within me. So I save the photo. Its a never ending cycle of "idea into art".  

Ray Bradbury, the famous author, was infamous for having an array of wild and unusual items around him at all times. He claimed that they helped him come up with some of his best ideas for stories. 

The same applies here. The more stuff, the more ideas. Its never ending. 

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not claiming that this is the only way to get great ideas for art or writing. What I am saying is, that for a creative, the idea comes first. Its that spark of inspiration that comes from finding truly unusual ideas to craft your work around. This should always be our first goal. Find the spark and we can set the world on fire with our creativity. Once you have the skills that any artist needs, then the idea must be your primary motivation. 

We are past the point where painting a bowl of flowers or fruit will end up in a gallery or museum. Yes that bowl of fruit may be crafted with perfection. But we are coming into an age where the "idea" will be the reason for why the art stands out. 

Many people hate the art of Maurizio Cattelan's banana duct taped to a wall. But the simple fact is, the whole world knows about it. Its the idea of that banana that made it a work of art. 

All the greatest cliche's of art began as an original idea. We've just recreated them to the point of nausea. Why? Because we lack original ideas of our own. 

So the next time you see an odd piece of metal on the side of the street, or a strange item laying in a pile of trash, PICK IT UP! You may get your best idea ever for a piece of art just because you noticed it. 

This is the Potential of Art. 

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

ONCE A BEAUTY - Songs of the Homeless (Art & Micro-Verse Merged)


 

I am 10, a beautiful child, the pride of my parents
I am 20, the envy of every woman and a prize for every man
I am 30, I hear voices and see phantoms
I am 40, reality fractures, I lose myself
I am 50, walking the streets and speaking to the shadows
I am 60, a corpse rotting in a paupers grave

 This is a series composed of art and what I call micro-verse. I attempt to augment the art through words written spontaneously to match that art. Micro-verse is meant to take you to a deeper place of meaning within the art. If the images and words are offensive, just remember that not all art is meant to be cute. Some is meant to make you think and sometimes to even take offense.

CREATURE OF THE NIGHT - Songs of the Homeless (Art & Micro-Verse Merged)

 


I am a creature of the night
Living in shadows and alleys
Surviving off those worse off than me
Begging to those who have more for a dime
My head aches from the dying nerves in my teeth
Hands are chapped and burned from sun and cold
The hate I spew is merely the hate I receive
You hate me
I hate myself

 This is a series composed of art and what I call micro-verse. I attempt to augment the art through words written spontaneously to match that art. Micro-verse is meant to take you to a deeper place of meaning within the art. If the images and words are offensive, just remember that not all art is meant to be cute. Some is meant to make you think and sometimes to even take offense.