Christopher Gray

Christopher Gray has made a name for himself in the rock poster art world as a solo poster artist and creative director with bands. Raised and based in the Midwest, Gray has been a classically trained printmaker and visual graphics designer since 2008, having graduated through several colleges and shadowed in print shops from Indianapolis to Nashville’s Hatch Show print. His professional breakthrough came when his piece was featured on Conan O’Brien for a #TeamCoco campaign, leading his first gig for the poster music industry and many more in Indianapolis. In 2010, he moved back home to Illinois with his wife to start their family and met his current business partner while contracted as a brand designer for a Fortune 500 company. Half Hazard Press, his current 10-year-old studio, is still run alongside his original partner Joel, where he runs daily operations, oversees all production, and continues to release his own work.

Gray’s main work is often characterized by clean, sweeping brush lines, sharp, realistic details, and dramatic color palettes. Growing up in the rustbelt offers regular daily inspiration for his concepts, which often incorporate eclectic elements from everyday life and nature into his designs, creating deep connections between the subject matter and the art. Starting as a graphic designer has made it possible for Gray’s styles to range in a variety of polar styles, and, through the last ten years, he has self-taught himself to shift focus to hand-drawn illustration solely to widen his spectrum of skills behind creating a piece. His most notable posters have promoted bands in various genres, from legends like Buddy Guy, Patti LaBelle, Joan Jett, Nick Jonas, and Selena Gomez to annually touring acts in the jam band world like Billy Strings, Goose, Daniel Donato, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Oteil Burbidge, and on a personally humbly level, the originating Grateful Dead members, Bill Kreutzmann and Phil Lesh.