Gruzis’s father is also an inspiration of sorts. “My dad was a graphic designer, so I was always around those elements, and they really entered my psyche,” he says. “A lot of my work has no horizon line — even the landscape paintings I was doing in L.A. — so there’s a sense of weightlessness. When it does have a horizon line, there’s no depth. My dad was more corporate than avant-garde, though; he mostly made radio station logos, graphics for magazines, and work for agricultural companies. He was big into sci-fi, so that also augmented my taste.” Above: A recent painting from a series inspired by digital clocks, which Gruzis introduced at his first solo exhibition at Deitch Projects in 2008.