Gary Hirsch

Painter/Illustrator/Doodler/Visual Arts/Improv Theater

When Gary Hirsch was growing up he had a lot of nightmares. You know, your basic, run of the mill nightmares – giant hands swooping down from the attic, grabbing him out of bed and swallowing him whole where he would land in a stomach that was really a graveyard populated by zombies. On these nights when he couldn’t sleep he would sit with his father in the kitchen and draw the monsters from his nightmares. They would stay up for hours and his Dad would help him name these creatures. Once during a late night doodling session his father leaned over and said, “You know, if you can create them, then you can also erase them.” So Gary would draw and erase, and after a while the nightmares came a bit less frequently. As a grown-up, Gary is still a voracious painter, illustrator, and doodler. He has shown in galleries, streets, and museums in Cleveland, Melbourne, Chicago, Seattle, and in his current home of Portland, Oregon, where you can see his large public works commissioned by the city.

When not painting I run a 12 person creative consultancy (www.oyf.com) that uses improv theater and visual art to help some of the world’s most successful companies communicate and relate…all while having a ridiculously good time.