Rob Pruitt

Rob Pruitt was born in Washington D.C. in 1964 and studied at the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington D.C. and Parsons School of Design in New York. He lives and works in New York.


Since the early 1990s, Rob Pruitt’s risk-taking investigations into American popular culture have taken many forms. From his notorious Cocaine Buffet (1998) and glitter portraits of Pandas or the significant Suicide Paintings series, Pruitt’s works are a surreal and extravagant interpretation of the pop world, a kaleidoscopic look towards mass culture by exploring the multiples aspects and the paradoxes of our present time. 


Throughout his career, Rob Pruitt has fine-tuned his ability to express nuanced ideas about culture and society through the re-interpretation of common objects and materials, all filtered through a sense of humour and irony. With his Mask series, the artist continues his pursuit of depicting the complexities of personality and emotions. The facial gestures indeed are cut into the canvas with a razor - destructive and creative at the same time, these gestures are married to an accumulation of gradients, patterns, and prints to create a character

Rob Pruitt Portrait fz Mye F

Biography

Solo exhibitions
Year
Country, Exhibition Name, Location
2023
F, B&W Narcissus, MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Paris
USA, Forthcoming, 303 Gallery, New York
2022
PRC, Panda-Monium in Beijing, MASSIMODECARLO, Beijing
HK, No Longer Endangered, but Vulnerable, MASSIMODECARLO, Hong Kong
2020
The John Armleder and Rob Pruitt Show, Massimo De Carlo, VSpace
I, Masks, Massimo De Carlo, Milano
2019
USA, The Obama Paintings, Rebuild Foundation, Chicago
2017
CH, Rob Pruitt: The Church Curated by Daniel Baumann, Kunsthalle Zurich, Zurich
N, I ♥ Père Lachaise Cemetery, Rod Bianco, Oslo
F, You Get The Face You Deserve, Air de Paris, Paris
F, You Get The Face You Deserve, Air de Paris, Paris
2016
HK, Hong Kong Panda, Massimo De Carlo, Hong Kong
2015
UK, Therapy Paintings, Massimo De Carlo, London
USA, The Obama Paintings and The Lincoln Monument, MoCAD, Detroit
2014
A, Struktur & Organismus, Mühldorf
USA, Multiples personalities, Gavin Brown’s Entreprise, New York
2013
UK, The Suicide Paintings, Massimo De Carlo, London
USA, Rob Pruitt: An American Folk Artist, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen
CH, Us, Art Unlimited, Art Basel, Basel
USA, The Last Panda, Gavin Brown's enterprise at 436 W. 15th St., New York
2012
F, Flea Market. Rob Pruitt, Monnaie de Paris, Paris
I, Faces: People and Pandas, Massimo De Carlo, Milano
D, History of the World, Kunstverein Freiburg, Friburgo
2011
USA, ROB PRUITT, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas Texas
USA, The Andy Monument, Public Art Fund, New York
F, The Andy Monument, Air de Paris, Paris
2010
USA, Pattern and Degradation, Gavin Brown's Enterprise & Maccarone, New York
I, iPaintings, Franco Noero Gallery, Torino
USA, Pop Touched Me, Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York
2009
USA, Rob Pruitt Presents the First Annual Art Awards, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
I, ProjectSpace, Franco Noero Gallery, Torino
UK, Look What I've Done: Rob Pruitt Works 1989 - 2009, Massimo De Carlo, London
Group exhibitions
Year
Country, Exhibition Name, Location
2021
I, Villa Chiuminatto, Villa Chiuminatto, Torino
2019
USA, From Day to Day, De La Cruz Collection, Miami
USA, People, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles
2016
UK, Self, Massimo De Carlo, London
I, The Pagad Curated by Rita Selvaggio, Massimo De Carlo, Milano
USA, Progressive Praxis, de la Cruz Collection, Miami
2015
USA, You've Got to Know the Rules...to Break Them, de la Cruz Collection, Miami
2014
USA, Painter’s Painters: Gifts from Alex Katz, High Museum of Art, Atlanta
UK, HOME/SCULPTURE, Massimo De Carlo, London
USA, Beneath the Surface, de la Cruz Collection, Miami
B, Three Blind Mice, Museum Dhondt Dhaenens, Deurle
F, Empire State, Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Paris
MC, ArtLovers: Histoires d’art dans la collection Pinault, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco
F, GIRLS, Galerie Perrotin, Paris
2013
Empire State. Arte a New York oggi Curated by Alex Gartenfeld e Norman Rosenthal, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma
USA, The Shadows Took Shape, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
USA, The Cat Show, White Columns, New York
I, An-Americana, Académie de France, Roma
USA, Looking at Process, de la Cruz Collection, Miami
2012
I, CARA DOMANI - Opere dalla Collezione Ernesto Esposito Curated by Caroline Corbetta, MAMbo, Bologna
F, Arthur Rainbow, Air de Paris, Paris
R4, Special FIAC Project, Paris, F
UK, Infinite Jest, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee
USA, Works From the Collection, de la Cruz Collection, Miami
USA, Funny, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York
2011
USA, Grisaille, Luxembourg & Dayan, New York
D, Number Five: Cities of Gold and Mirrors, Julia Stoschek Collection, Dusseldorf
2010
USA, At Home/Not at Home: Works from the Collection of Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg, Center for Curatorial Studies Bard-Hessel Museum, Annandale-on-Hudson
USA, It's All American, New Jersey MoCa, New Jersey
2009
I, Mapping the Studio: Artists from the Francois Pinault Collection Curated by Alison Gingeras, Francesco Bonami, Punto della Dogana/Palazzo Grassi, Venezia
USA, The Living and the Dead, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York
USA, Whaddaya Wanna Be, a Flower?!, Alexander and Bonin, New York

Bibliography

Year
Author, Publication Title, Date
2021
Massaccesi, Erica, Artribune, January 3,
2020
Passion Design, December
Living, December
2018
Mousse Magazine, july
2017
Higgs, Matthew, Artforum, December
Phillips, Kaitlin, Artforum
2016
La Repubblica (il venerdi), 18 March
Time Out, January
2015
Meris, Fabrizio e Gloria Maria Cappelletti, Flair, May
Artnet, 5 May
McEwen, Adam e Urs Fischer, Mousse, May
2013
Waters, Florence, ArtReview, December
Capelli, Pia, Elle, October
Modern Painters, May
2012
Bell, Kirsty, frieze, October
Lima, Ben, D Magazine, January 5
Binlot, Ann, ArtInfo, April 13
Jovanovic, Rozalia, The New York Observer, May 28
Milligan, Lauren, British Vogue, British Vogue, April 13
Douglas, Sarah, The New York Observer, March 19
Thornton, Sarah, The Economist, June 22
Rappolt, Mark, Art Review, September
Solway, Diane, W Magazine, January
Bell, Kirsty, frieze, October
2011
Fox, Dan, Frieze.com, April
Haden-Guest, Anthony, The Art Economist
Smith, Roberta, NYtimes.com, March 31
Artinfo.com, March 29
New York Magazine, April 4
Randolph, Eleonor, The New York Times, May 14
Allen, Emma, The New York Observer, October 27
2010
O'Brien, Glenn, Purple, February

Public collections

Country
Location
France
FRAC Poitou-Charentes, Angoulême
Italy
Pinault Collection, Venezia
Japan
Aishti Collection, Beirut
Taguchi Art Collection, Kanagawa
Switzerland
Syz Collection, Geneva
United States of America
De La Cruz Collection, Miami
Hoggard Wagner Art Collection, New York
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago
Rubell Family Collection, Miami
The Andy Monument, Union Square, New York
The Brant Foundation, Greenwich

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