Artist Bio

Tim Gleason received a Bachelor of Arts in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts, New York, and an MFA in Painting and Drawing at California State-Fullerton where he studied with artists Eileen Cowin and Joey Santarromana and Tim B. Wride, Curator of Photography at the Norton Museum, West Palm Beach, Florida.

Having moved to San Francisco in his twenties, Gleason worked for five years as a studio assistant and design studio manager for the late Rex Ray, a prominent artist and graphic designer. Gleason went on to become a graphic designer in his own right, best known for entertainment industry packaging, including for HBO, DirecTV, SyFy Network, and promotional media campaigns for Mad Men, How I Met Your Mother, and Modern Family. His designs include, dimensional packaging for Emmy ”For Your Consideration” campaigns, from injection-molded plastic orbs that cracked open to reveal VHS and DVDs for Syfy Network to boxes that glowed and played sounds when opened for FX. His sophisticated interactive up-scale invitations for Instyle Magazine, Entertainment Tonight, and for celebrities such as Mariah Carey and Shaquille O’Neal were widely acknowledged as some of the most innovative design concepts of their time. Gleason also created multiple LGBTQ focused outreach visual identities for Wells Fargo and Hilton Hotels.

As the industry moved towards digital and away from dimensional printed ephemera and packaging, Gleason grew disenchanted with graphic design and returned to his drawing and painting practice. His work is currently at Gallery 16 in San Francisco and represented by Brian Marki Fine Art Gallery, Palm Springs.

Originally from the Boston area, Gleason currently lives and works in Palm Springs. He is a founding and current member of HQ, an Artists Collective, and oversees the Rex Ray Estate and Foundation.