John Grillo was a painter, sculptor, and lithographer. He was born in Lawrence, MA, and studied at the Hartford School of Fine Arts from 1935 to 1938. He relocated to San Francisco, CA, and attended the California School of Fine Arts from 1945 to 1947. In 1948, he returned to Massachusetts and studied under Hans Hofmann (German/American, 1880–1966) at the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts in Provincetown. Grillo’s first exhibition was held at Daliel's Gallery in Berkeley, CA, in 1947, and in the following year, his second solo exhibition was held in New York at the Artists' Gallery. In 1952, Grillo had his third solo exhibit at Tanager Gallery in New York, and in 1953, three other New York galleries showcased his work: the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, and the Tibor de Nagy Gallery.

Grillo was a visiting artist at the University of California at Berkeley, Iowa University, Studio School of New York, and Illinois University at Carbondale. He taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York, New School of Social Research in New York, the Pratt Institute, the University of Massachusetts and Provincetown Art Association, and Museum in Provincetown, MA. Grillo has also won several awards, including First Prize in Oil Painting and a prize for best sculpture at the Wistariahusrt Museum in Holyoke, MA. The artist’s work has been exhibited at the Katherina Rich Perlow Gallery in New York, the Cove Gallery in Wellfleet, MA, the Aaron Galleries Modern in Chicago, Robert Green Fine Arts in Mill Valley, CA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in, New York, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art in New York, and the Stable Gallery in New York.

Grillo’s work can be found in public collections at The University of Texas Museum, Dartmouth College, the Bundy Art Gallery Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum, the Portland Museum, the University of Massachusetts, and the Norfolk Museum in Virginia. The artist currently resides in Provincetown, MA.