Hobby Musings: Graig Kreindler Brings Baseball to Life, Part 2 – Last week, I had the chance to discuss how Graig Kreindler got into the world of baseball artwork. Here’s part two of our deep dive into his career. If you missed Part 1, check it out here.
KS: All of your works are truly stunning, and incredibly lifelike, almost as if it’s a photo. How do you get the detail so accurate?
GK: It honestly comes from the constant work that I put in over the years with learning how to paint from life. I have an idea of why things look the way they do. Light and color are the most important things to me, and then I’m just trying to find a way to extrapolate what I see and put it on a canvas. It’s a lot of hard work and stubbornness too. I want everything I paint to be as perfect as humanly possible, so I’m constantly doing some fiddling and adjusting. I’m not going to let it leave the studio until I’m at a point where I’m comfortable doing so.
KS: I know it may be hard to pick, but do you have a favorite piece you’ve done?
GK: It is hard to pick. The 27 Yankees piece will always hold a pretty strong place in my heart because I basically almost killed myself to get it done. There are some other paintings that I really like that are a little more quiet. I did a painting of Johnny Vander Meer that is just of him in the dugout. I’m pretty sure it was at Ebbets Field. He’s completely in shadow, but right in front of him, you can see this little sliver of bright light where the shadow ends. The sun that is shining onto the ground into the dugout is shining back into his face and body. Something like that, even though it’s a quiet painting, is the kind of stuff I really like doing. That was one where I thought I nailed it.
KS: Is there a project you haven’t done yet that you really want to do?
GK: Yes, there are a ton. I’m 41 and I don’t know how much time I have left like any of us. The hope is to paint as much of baseball history as I can. Ideally, I’d like to paint all of it, but I don’t know if that’ll happen given the sheer volume of the sport’s history. If there’s something I haven’t painted yet, I want to paint it. Random obscure players from the 19th century to someone like Barry Bonds. I’d love to do a Bonds painting. I think he’s an interesting subject who needs to be represented.
KS: On your social media, you’ve spoken out on your reluctance to do prints. Why have you taken this stance?
GK: I don’t have a problem with prints at all. They can be a wonderful thing for artists and their fans. The big reason I haven’t done them is a rights thing. If I do a unique painting of Mickey Mantle, I can sell it and not have to worry about legal IP issues. The moment I do prints of it though, it turns into commercial use of Mantle and his likeness, as well as the Yankees uniform and name, and the photo I based the painting off of. All of the people who are the stewards of that various IP, they all then need to be paid and compensated to make those prints the right way and legally. And that’s how I’d want to do it, but opening up that kind of business model means a lot of expansion and time away from the painting. I’d rather focus on doing the originals to be honest. I think they’re more special, and collectors seem to like having the exclusive 1/1 paintings.
KS: You’ve garnered numerous accolades and had your work displayed in several places. Which accomplishment would you say you’re proudest of?
GK: The accomplishment of me being able to do something that I love for a living is really my greatest accomplishment and what I’m most proud of. I know how lucky I am and don’t take that for granted. Winning an award and being featured is nice, but I’m always thinking about how happy and grateful I am to be doing this and supporting my family with it.
KS: For anyone who may be interested, how do they commission a piece to be done?
GK: Basically, they can get in contact with me via social media or my website. It varies with each person, and I go over the commission process with everyone and start working with them based on what they want. Just as a note of caution, the current wait for paintings is kind of at a ridiculous number due to my backlog.
KS: Do you collect any trading cards or memorabilia?
GK: Not really. I used to collect cards with my father and brother when I was younger but I don’t do it anymore. After stopping with baseball cards around 1989 or 90, I did basketball for a little and then comics, but I stopped collecting both. The last collecting venture I was into was Magic the Gathering, which I played in high school and enjoyed very much.
Something I am trying to do is get autographs of everyone from the 1936 Yankees and Giants. The reason is because my grandfather passed away when I was young. I was around eight years old, so I didn’t get to talk baseball with him or really know him. He was born around 1905 and was a big Giants fan. I was in my 30s when I decided to do this, which is around his age when the Giants and Yankees were in the World Series. I imagined what it was like for him to go to those stadiums and possibly see those clubs in the World Series. I fell in love with those two teams because of the relationship he may or may not have had with them. I don’t constantly look for the autographs, and I’m picky about what I want to add. For me, it has to be a period autograph, so not just anything will do.
KS: For anyone else who would be interested in getting into sports artwork, what advice would you give them?
GK: It would probably be the same kind of advice I would give to any artist who is starting out and trying to get their work to the next level. It’s really important to work your butt off and be really prolific in how much you do. How much you paint, share on social and make your presence known. I think it’s important to work at all of those things. For me, it’s important to focus on the quality of the work and by being prolific, you’re kind of able to get a higher quality of work.
Hobby Musings: Graig Kreindler Brings Baseball to Life, Part 2 – More Resources
Website: graigkreindler.com
Twitter: GraigKreindler
Instagram: graigkreindler
Facebook: Graig Kreindler
Hobby Musings: Graig Kreindler Brings Baseball to Life, Part 2 – Image Gallery
Kelsey’s ability to bring hobby coverage to the mainstream sports fan has been a true asset. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on collecting in Hobby Musings. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
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