Rob Pruitt

Rob Pruitt, an American artist, is recognized for artworks that embody Pop Art sensibilities, blending ironic and witty commentary on social, cultural, and artistic themes. Operating primarily in painting, installation, and sculpture, Pruitt employs diverse mediums to convey his ideas.

Biography of Rob Pruitt

Born in 1964 in Washington, DC, Rob Pruitt grew up in Rockville and attended the Corcoran College of Art and Design, where he formed a friendship with the admissions director, Tim Gunn. Later, he transferred to Parsons School of Design when Gunn began teaching there. While in college, Pruitt resided at the Chelsea Hotel, focusing more on partying than on studying.

Entering the art scene in the late '80s, Pruitt initially gained prominence as half of the art team Pruitt-Early. The duo became renowned for their work that pushed art about gender politics into a new and radical pop arena. At the peak of their fame, Pruitt-Early presented "The Red Black Green Red White, and Blue Project" at Leo Castelli Gallery, addressing the marketing of African-American pop culture to the public. However, the show received severe criticism for its perceived lack of political correctness. Subsequently, Pruitt-Early disbanded, and Pruitt withdrew from the art world for several years

Following the split with Early, one of Pruitt's early solo works was the 1998 installation titled "Cocaine Buffet." This piece consisted of a 16-foot mirror with a line of cocaine running down the center, inviting visitors to partake. Subsequently, Pruitt directed his artistic focus towards performative actions aimed at challenging conventions of decent behavior. Examples include conducting a nude book signing and displaying his father's ashes in various exhibitions.

In 1999, Pruitt held his first solo show under a humorous title. The application of humor to language-based conceptual art yielded intriguing results. The exhibition featured almost recipe-style book instructions, guiding activities like painting secret paintings on walls with glow-in-the-dark paint and drawing oneself into a favorite comic strip. Other suggestions encouraged interacting with the world in unconventional ways, such as sitting on the toilet backward and embarking on an animal photo safari in a city, observing dogs, cats, pigeons, rats, and squirrels.

The same year, Pruitt organized the Flea Market, inviting fellow artists and friends to set up tables and sell a variety of items, including their own artwork or personal belongings. This transformed the exhibition space into a social hub for artists, addressing themes of cohabitation within the art community and the art market.

In 2001, Pruitt introduced the first of his glittery panda paintings, which would later become his trademark. Subsequently, he created numerous versions of these paintings using different techniques and stylizations. The decision to incorporate panda imagery was a strategic move to connect with the public amid generally unfavorable opinions about him. Despite this, Pruitt remained devoted to these animals and even collaborated with Jimmy Choo in 2012 to produce a line of shoes and handbags featuring panda bears and animal prints.

In 2009, the Guggenheim approached Pruitt to reimagine their annual fundraising event. Departing from the traditional gala, the artist conceived a performance piece resembling an Oscars-style award show, critically examining the concept of stardom. 

In 2011, Pruitt created The Andy Monument for the Public Art Fund—an impressive ten-foot-tall, chrome-finished statue of Andy Warhol positioned outside the building that housed Warhol's Factory in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Rob Pruitt's Art Style

Rob Pruitt's highly subversive artistic practice is rooted in the necessity to employ shock tactics to reconstruct the contemporary concept of artwork. Through the appropriation of sarcasm, the artist aims to articulate the means and requirements of becoming an artist in relation to the dictates of the art market. Driven by a DIY sensibility, Pruitt often creates works that may seem banal and somewhat amateurish; however, the message he embeds in them engages the observer. In contrast to aesthetic predecessors such as Andy Warhol, who positioned themselves as fabricators of culture rather than consumers, Pruitt takes the agenda to the next level by ironically highlighting and questioning his own position.