Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Gruss currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. He conducted formal studies in photographic science and design, with a concentration in large format photography, silver printing and 3-dimensional design. Exploring ideas and materials has been a large part of the process of his work, and he considers himself mainly self-educated.

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"The work is not to be owned or defined by the reality of the material I'm working with. The process lets go of literal understandings of materials and placement use; which in turn metamorphoses into something else. The process enters a geoemetric space of the mind, where dimensions can be abstracted".

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Gruss spends staggering amounts of time and concentration on aspects of his work and takes an almost shamanic approach regarding the nature of his creativity. Working in a variety of mediums and methods including painting, drawing and photography with the use of graphite, ink wax, epoxy, string and ash, Gruss' installations focus mostly with the fundamental elements of black and white linear exploration and expression.

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Gruss' work is archived in the Hallmark Corporate Fine Art Collection, Kansas City, MO, and has been exhibited at the Evanston Art Center Biennial, Evanston, IL, Artropolis 2007, Chicago, Il, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, Il, and the Art Institute of Chicago g2 space, among others.​