Biography

Robert Florczak was born in Washington, D.C. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the prestigious Cooper Union in New York City, studying painting under Will Barnet and photography under Gary Winogrand. Florczak was artist-Inresidence at Widener University, and taught painting and drawing at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, the Laguna College Of Art and Design, and the San Francisco Academy of Art University.

As a professional artist, he has had an active career spanning over four decades, with extensive work in the fine art, advertising, entertainment, and publishing fields. Along with a vast amount of cinema art, posters, album covers, book and magazine illustrations, etc, Florczak has produced the artwork for nine published picture books.

Florczak's art is characterized by an avid interest in historical, literary, and mythological themes of drama and romance, and an intimate understanding of the classical methods of the Old Masters. He works in a number of traditional mediums, including detailed graphite drawing, watercolor, and in the centuries-old method of transparent oil glazing. His designs and technique having been compared to the classical imagery of the Pre- Raphaelites and have been described as "Caravaggio crossed with Maxfield Parrish" (School Library Journal). According to one reviewer, Robert's landscapes are "reminiscent of ambitious paintings from the Hudson River School" (Booklist). He is a member of The Society of Illustrators.

His original works are in the private collections of Mel Gibson, Michael Jackson (including the logo of Neverland Ranch), Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Stewart (now at the James M. Stewart Theater at Princeton University), and Paul Allen (Microsoft's cofounder), among others, and in the corporate collections of AT&T, Random House, and Beecham Pharmaceuticals.

In a parallel career in music, Florczak has been a professional singer-songwriter, recording several albums of original music, and performing everywhere from nightclubs (New York's The Bitter End) to concert halls (Aspen's Wheeler Opera House) to radio and TV. While living closely among scores of wild lions and tigers, he co-scored the music for the major motion picture "Roar," recording the soundtrack with The National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Florczak’s authorship includes the books “YIKES!!!” (Blue Sky Press), “Errol Flynn: The Illustrated Life Chronology” (Lyons Press) and “Good Art/Bad Art: A Guide To Judging Quality? (Skyhorse Publishing).

As a member of the educational organization Prager U, Florczak has presented two popular video lectures on art, one which has over 15 million views across all media. He continues to be featured in radio and internet interviews concerning art and classic Hollywood.

Robert Florczak lives in Germany.