Josh Criswell 'Tough Guy' Print Available

Artist: Josh Criswell/Crozz Draws
Title: Tough Guy
Medium: 2 Color Linocut Print
Size: 8 x 10 Inches
Edition: UNSURE
Prices: $30

 

Josh Criswell, who publishes under the studio name Crozz Draws, is an American painter, printmaker and art educator born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Working from a modest studio filled with hip-hop, hardcore and punk-rock playlists, he hand-carves linoleum blocks that explore the paradoxes of life: danger beside growth, violence beside pleasure, mortality beside vibrant colour. Skulls, tigers and anonymous figures recur in his prints, each rendered with obsessive symmetry and a crisp, high-contrast palette that echoes the urgency of gig posters and protest flyers.

His process begins with meticulous sketches that map every contour, ensuring that each knife-cut line will lock into a perfect mirrored balance. Ink is then rolled onto the block and pressed onto delicate 80 gsm paper, producing small editions where subtle variations in pressure become part of the final rhythm. Recent pieces such as Tiger Style and Woman on Phone layer hand-painted gold leaf or neon washes over the initial black pull, adding contemporary shimmer to the raw relief surface.

Criswell has exhibited at Point Five Gallery, Vestige Concept Gallery and Nevin Kelly Gallery in Washington D.C., while online drops through Crozz Draws sell out within minutes. When he is not carving, he teaches printmaking to high-school students, encouraging them to treat the block as a stage where personal fears and communal hopes can perform together. Through every symmetrical skull and blooming rose, he offers a simple reminder: imperfection is part of the dance, and beauty often begins where the blade slips.