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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. 

His work has been included in numerous museum solo exhibitions, including a recent exhibition at Rebuild Foundation, Chicago (2019); Kunsthalle Zurich, curated by Daniel Baumann, Zurich (2017); Brant Foundation, Greenwich, (2015); a mid-career retrospective at Aspen Art Museum, Aspen (2013); Dallas Contemporary, Dallas (2011); Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit (2015); Kunstverein, Freiburg (2012); Le Consortium, Dijon (2002); and group shows such as: From Day to Day, de la Cruz Collection, Miami (2019); The Shadows Took Shape, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2013); Pop Life, Tate Modern (2009); Mapping the Studio, Punta Della Dogana/Palazzo Grassi, Venice (2009). In 2009, he debuted the Rob Pruitt’s Annual Art Awards at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, an award show for the art world fashioned after the Oscars. In 2011, he was commissioned by the Public Art Fund to install The Andy Monument, a highly polished chrome sculpture of Andy Warhol (replete with shopping bags) in New York’s Union Square, near the site of Warhol’s Factory. 

Rob Pruitt

HIDING FROM THE HUMANS, 2020
Enamel and glitter on linen
241.3 × 180.3 cm / 96 × 72 inches

Rob Pruitt

BLAH BLAH BLAH, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
50.8 × 40.6 cm / 20 × 16 inches

Rob Pruitt

ELEPHANT, 2020
Acrylic on linen
157.5 × 122 cm / 62 × 48 inches

Rob Pruitt

GREEN TAPED CHAIR, 2020
Green mirror tape on chair
53 × 32 × 38 cm / 21 × 12 1/2 × 15 inches

Rob Pruitt

IRIDESCENT TAPE ON CHAIR, 2020
Iridescent tape on chair
82 × 56 × 49 cm / 32 1/2 × 22 1/8 × 19 1/2 inches

Rob Pruitt

CHARMED, 2020
Acrylic, enamel, and glitter on linen
22.8 × 26 cm / 9 × 10 1/4 inches

Rob Pruitt

(PANDA FOOD), WINTER IS COMING, 2019
Acrylic, enamel and glitter on linen
182.9 × 121.9 × 3.2 cm / 72 × 48 × 1 1/4 inches

Rob Pruitt

LEAVE ME ALONE, 2016
Acrylic on canvas in hand painted artist's frames
240.7 × 190 cm / 92 3/4 × 74 3/4 inches

Rob Pruitt

THERAPY PAINTING (6/22/15), 2015
Acrylic, ink, oil and water based paint on linen canvas
213.3 × 165 × 2.7 cm / 84 × 65 × 1 inches

Rob Pruitt

THERAPY PAINTING (9/21/2015), 2015
Acrylic, ink, oil and water based paint on linen canvas
165 × 213.3 × 2.7 cm / 65 × 84 × 1 inches

Rob Pruitt

STUDIO LUNCH TABLE, 2014
Markers and pens on plywood and 2x4's, chromed sawhorse brackets
78.7 × 243.8 × 121.9 cm / 31 × 96 × 48 inches

Rob Pruitt

STUDIO LOVESEAT (GAY LOVE SEAT), 2014
Markers and pens on canvas couch, chromed feet
68.6 × 147.3 × 76.2 cm / 27 × 58 × 30 inches

Rob Pruitt

SUICIDE PAINTING XII, 2013
Acrylic on linen
205.7 × 274.3 cm / 81 × 108 inches

Rob Pruitt

LEAVE ME ALONE / COME CLOSER, 2013
Acrylic, enamel, glitter on linen
243.8 × 182.9 cm / 96 × 72 inches

Rob Pruitt

SUICIDE PAINTING VI, 2013
Acrylic on linen
205.7 × 274.3 cm / 81 × 108 inches

Rob Pruitt

PANDA GRAND FINALE III, 2012
Enamel and glitter on linen
153 × 203.5 × 3.5 cm / 60 15/64 × 80 1/8 × 1 3/8 inches

Rob Pruitt

PANDA GRAND FINALE II, 2012
Enamel and glitter on linen
153 × 203.5 × 3.5 cm / 60.2 × 80.1 × 1.4 inches

Rob Pruitt

HUGGINS, 2012
Marble and paper bag
48 × 30 × 17.5 cm / 19× 11 13/16 × 7 inches

Rob Pruitt

RASHID, 2012
Acrylic, enamel and flocking on linen
249 × 211.5 × 3.5 cm / 98 × 83.2 × 1.4 inches

Rob Pruitt

HARRY, 2012
Acrylic, enamel and flocking on linen
267 × 224 × 3.5 cm / 105 1⁄8 × 88 3⁄16 × 1 3⁄8 inches

Rob Pruitt

CANDY DISH (GREY SCALE), 2012
Acrylic and shellac on tire, candies
83.8 × Ø 58.5 cm / 33 × 23 Ø inches

Rob Pruitt

GRANDMA, 2012
Acrylic, enamel and flocking on linen
247 × 214 × 3.5 cm / 97 1⁄4 × 84 1⁄4 × 1 3⁄8 inches

Rob Pruitt

DOLL FACE, 2012
Acrylic, enamel and flocking on linen
226 × 198.7 × 3.5 cm / 89 × 78.2 × 1.4 inches

Rob Pruitt

HAPPY BABY, 2012
Acrylic, enamel and flocking on linen
236.5 × 221.5 × 3.5 cm / 93 7/64 × 87 13/64 × 1 3/8 inches

Rob Pruitt

UGO, 2012
Acrylic, enamel and flocking on linen
241.5 × 206.5 × 3.5 cm / 95 × 81 × 1 3/8 inches