Frank-Joachim Grossmann

In 2002 Grossmann was a visiting professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore (USA), in 2007 he was a visiting professor at the Academy of Arts Tbilisi in Georgia and in 2011 he was a reviewer of the accreditation process for course offers in communication at IB-Hochschule Berlin. Grossmann also taught as a lecturer at Mannheimer Abendakademie (1982–1992), Kulturzentrum Feuerwache Mannheim (1984–1992 and since 2014), Kunstschule Villa Wieser Herxheim, Feierabendhaus of BASF (1992–1994), FH Metzingen (2000), Internationaler Bund Stuttgart (2006) and Faber-Castell-Akademie (2014–2016).

From 2001 to 2002 Grossmann was Professor for Fundamentals of Media Design at Fachhochschule Ulm. From 2002 to 2012 he held a professorship for typography and computer graphics at Fachhochschule Schwäbisch Hall. Since 1998 Grossmann has been a lecturer in media design and interface design at Hochschule Worms as well as a lecturer for typography for online media at DHBW Mosbach.

Particularly in his early creative phase up to about 1995 Grossmann was interested in the art of drawing. He specially sought to capture whatever he saw by means of a pen or a charcoal pencil. The art historian Clemens Jöckle describes how Grossmann, in his large-format drawings in delicate colors, makes the human image appear like an archaic face on a monochrome surface. Similarly, for  the art historian Jürgen Linde, Grossmann's lines in particular provide access to his early works. At the same time he succeeds in creating a tension between the photorealistic exactness of an object and its Sfumato-like blurring on the picture's surface. For the cultural scientist Uli Rothfuss, Grossmann's works are supported by a filigree quality. They strive for perfection without wanting to impress. A joint study trip to Georgia and a book project with literature by Uli Rothfuss and watercolors by Grossmann bear witness of his esteem for Grossmann's art.

Since 1995 in his graphic prints Grossmann has been turned towards typography and the relationship between colors and forms. He tries to show the areas of tension within the dynamically set colored letters. His works vary from large-format woodblock color prints to smaller digital prints. In several commissions, Grossmann has also work on the range of possibilities for poster and book design as well as logos. For Jürgen Linde of Kunstportal Baden-Württemberg his creative skills are particularly evident in the various media: from posters, web design and logos up to graphic printing processes such as lithography, wood and linoleum printing and etchings. Parallel to that, Thomas Angelou recognizes an exciting contrast in the use of older as well as contemporary printing techniques in Grossmann's works. With regard to these graphic works by Grossmann, Uli Rothfuss on the other hand concurrently emphasizes the artist's awareness of the arrangement of colors and forms, so that they are memorized, so that they have an effect. Additionally Johannes Meinhardt observes that the starting points for Grossmann's prints are letters or numbers. These are then interlaced again in such a way that new surface elements and thus complex, ambiguous prints are created.

From 1983 to 1984 Frank-Joachim Grossmann worked as a workshop manager of the printing workshop at Kulturzentrum Alte Hauptfeuerwache in Mannheim. From 1992 to 1999 he taught as a lecturer at Fachhochschule Mannheim, from 1993 to 2001 and again from 2005 to 2008 at Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe under Gunter Rambow.

Grossmann studied graphic design at Städtische Fachhochschule Mannheim under Wolf Magin and Hubert Gems together with Armin Liebscher from 1978 to 1983. In 1980 he completed an internship offered by Bernd Benedix and Paul In den Eicken. From 1995 to 1998 he studied communication design in Stuttgart at Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart at Manfred Kröplien and Günter Jacki.

Frank-Joachim Grossmann (born June 7, 1958 in Jena) is a German artist and graphic designer. He works and lives in Römerberg near Speyer.