Founder of the Hale County Arts Alliance and Greensboro resident artist, Greg Wood, passed away on Saturday, November 19, at the age of 72.
Born in New York City in 1950, Greg Michael Maloney attended the La Salle Catholic Academy in the East Village. In his adolescence, he would rub shoulders with stars of Andy Warhol’s films like Jackie Curtis and Holly Woodlawn.
He served as a Navy cryptographer, decoding messages sent from China to Vietnam, being stationed over 5 years in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Okinawa, Japan. Living off base in Thailand the villagers often tethered their elephants to the frail supporting posts of his tree house home near Chang “Elephant” Station. He was beloved by the village children.
Returning to the US he moved to central Kansas, motorcycling 70 miles each day in subzero weather to make $2.10 an hour unloading grain and herding cattle. His deepest love was sitting on his porch in Delphos, Kansas with his Labrador retriever, Mr. Duffy. He then travelled New England doing wood carving and woodcuts, leaving his mark from Boston to Bar Harbor, Maine.
Back in NYC Greg was doorman for the legendary Le Cirque restaurant at the Mayfair Hotel on Park Avenue. There he was befriended by Andy Warhol. The two walked their dogs- -Mr. Duffy known by locals for his signature red plaid tie–talked art, went on late night jaunts to visit eccentric millionaires, and brunched at Brasserie with the Demimonde of New York. He then took up architectural stained glass and worked for the famous Bendheim East Studios in Tribeca for 3 years.
He joined Lamb Studios in 1984 and continued both his sign making and church restoration which led him to live in a choir loft back in NYC in 1991. Greg transformed derelict factories across New Jersey, New York and Brooklyn into kaleidoscopic art spaces filled with Russian DJs, avant-garde Polish filmmakers, and musicians.
Back in Manhattan Greg was blinded in one eye during a VA hospital operation. After a very dark period in Manhattan and Washington D.C., he bought a house in Narrowsburg, NY. He resided there in solitude for ten years prior to moving to Greensboro to be part of the now defunct HERO project. In typical fashion, he made a new and full life there.
Greg was passionate about painted signage, with his brush passing over many signs throughout Hale County, such as The Hub in Greensboro and the now close Hunter’s Café in Akron. His paintings of rural and urban landscapes hung throughout The Stable in Greensboro, as well.
Greg founded Hale County Arts Alliance as a multi-pronged project to further the arts in the area. Up to the very end, he opened his paint-covered studio to those looking for a hot dog and some Maker’s Mark.
A memorial was held for Greg “Wood” Maloney at his place on 1012 Market Street in Greensboro—surrounded by his art.
