Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Red Grooms studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and with Hans Hofmann. He has become one of the most versatile artists of the twentieth century. Working as a painter, sculptor, installation artist, draughtsman, performance artist, and filmmaker, Grooms consistently infuses his work with a whimsical sense of humor. Often focusing on scenes from daily life, he approaches his subject through a lens of caricature and exaggeration, lending a cartoon-like quality to the everyday incident. Grooms' sculptural tableaux of the 1970s and 1980s and his life-sized environmental installations, such as the 1976 "Ruckus Manhattan," delighted viewers with its re-creation of city scenes crammed with human incident and amusing detail in a colorful and playfully naïve style.