Gabriel Anton's Bio

Gabriel Anton was born August 7th, 1982 in Cleveland, Ohio. Raised in the city Gabriel was exposed to many different cultures and expressions of those cultures through various forms of art. His stepfather was an avid artist from Europe who would mostly use oil paint. He would paint landscapes for hours as Gabriel watched and many times tried to emulate what he saw. His stepfather's subjects would often be various mountainous regions and open fields from his homeland in Europe, mostly recalled from memory. Gabriel picked up many techniques from his stepfather and credits him as one of the main influences during childhood when he was starting to express himself artistically. Another main influence was tagging, a form of graffiti art and inner city murals. He often observed the huge works of graffiti art in east Cleveland and on the trains going to and from downtown and wondered who did them and when. He then started to dabble in graffiti in his preteen years while roaming the streets with friends and talked about one day being a professional artist. In elementary school he won numerous awards for art competitions and recalls one in particular, "I won a contest in Northeastern Ohio for drawing my shoe, that's when I knew this was my calling." His mother was noticing him dedicating quite a bit of time to drawing and brought him to art galleries to show him professional artists work and even brought his art to church. She also brought him downtown when she would work the night shift at her secretarial job so he could see the large abstract paintings in the thirty something story building she worked in. As well as early art influences there were many life influences that affected Gabriel's artistic expression. His mother and stepfather's split, life and death situations in the inner city, social injustices witnessed, incarceration, young love, heart break, death, and many other emotions engaged in the human experience. He describes him coming into his artistic voice, "I've always tried to stay in tune with my soul and bring to life symbols of our human experience through art, joyous or tragic" This explains the many themes found in his pieces as inspiration can be found in almost any aspect of life and this artist certainly embraces that. Since turning professional in 2002 Gabriel has done a wide range of work including childrens books, book covers, album covers, t-shirts, framed art, greeting cards and gifts, and is featured in art galleries. He currently resides in Tennessee, working out of his studio, doing various commissioned projects. He also currently merchandises many of his most popular pieces and enjoys creating works of art that contribute to peoples lives and the meaning of it.