Stefan Gross

Stefan Gross was born in Bendorf, Germany in 1964. He began his career as an apprentice glassmaker in stained glass training, where he developed an understanding of color. In 1988 he achieved his mastery in this field and subsequently graduated cum laude from the painting program in Saarbrücken. After moving to the Netherlands, he developed a new technique using a self-created material he calls oil-plastic.

Since 2006, Gross has worked primarily with oil-plastic, created by dyeing industrial plastic with traditional oil paints. The material is translucent and behaves like glass at relatively low temperatures, allowing him to combine surface and paint while creating painted surfaces in three dimensions. In his work, Gross engages with themes of societal decay and the consequences of growth-based economics.