Born in Roselle Park, New Jersey, realist and expressionist painter Gregory Gillespie had a strict Catholic Church upbringing, which influences his painting and mix-media sculpture that frequently has religious imagery. He was one of the artists who "came of age" in the 1970s and felt much pressure by the Abstract Expressionists to "paint from the gut" but emerged with a personal style based on Realism influenced by Abstract Expressionism.

He is especially known for his self portraits, and in these paintings often probes social and psychological issues of gender and identity.

Gillespie studied art in New York City at Cooper Union where he was much influenced by books of 14th and 15th century Italian painting a...