Rob Pruitt
b. 1964 Washington D.C, USA
Lives and works in New York City, NY, USA
The highly subversive artistic practice of Rob Pruitt is embedded in the need to deploy shock tactics in order to reassemble the very notion of artwork is in the contemporary moment. By appropriating sarcasm, first of all, the artist is eager to express what are the means or requirements of becoming the artist in regards to dictating of the art market.
Apparently driven by the DIY sensibility, Pruitt often produces works which are banal and almost dilettante, yet the message he inscribes in them does not leave the observer restless. His aesthetic forebears like Andy Warhol or Jeff posited themselves as fabricators of culture rather than consumers, while Pruitt takes the whole agenda to the next level by ironically accentuating and questioning his own position.
The artist started kicking the art scene in the late 80's as half of the art team Pruitt-Early, which became celebrated for the work that took art about gender politics into a radical new pop arena. At the height 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 in the public. The show was disastrously received due to severe criticism on the lack of political correctness. Soon afterward, Pruitt-Early split up and Pruitt disappeared from the art world for several years.
In the last two decades, Pruitt has earned the desired attention with his almost anarchic approach to arts. During the course of time, he started exhibiting regularly in galleries, museums and at art fairs. Interestingly, in 2013 his work set a record price at a Christie’s charity auction and was sold for the immense sum. The part of his eccentric behavior is a delight for throwing parties like he did with MOCA's annual gala which was a weed-themed bacchanalia. Although it might seem odd and unserious, the decadent and humorous art of Rob Pruitt is always well thought and based on the critical reflection of contemporaneity and all of its recurrences.
The highly subversive artistic practice of Rob Pruitt is embedded in the need to deploy shock tactics in order to reassemble the very notion of artwork is in the contemporary moment. By appropriating sarcasm, first of all, the artist is eager to express what are the means or requirements of becoming the artist in regards to dictating of the art market.
Apparently driven by the DIY sensibility, Pruitt often produces works which are banal and almost dilettante, yet the message he inscribes in them does not leave the observer restless. His aesthetic forebears like Andy Warhol or Jeff posited themselves as fabricators of culture rather than consumers, while Pruitt takes the whole agenda to the next level by ironically accentuating and questioning his own position.
The artist started kicking the art scene in the late 80's as half of the art team Pruitt-Early, which became celebrated for the work that took art about gender politics into a radical new pop arena. At the height 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 in the public. The show was disastrously received due to severe criticism on the lack of political correctness. Soon afterward, Pruitt-Early split up and Pruitt disappeared from the art world for several years.
In the last two decades, Pruitt has earned the desired attention with his almost anarchic approach to arts. During the course of time, he started exhibiting regularly in galleries, museums and at art fairs. Interestingly, in 2013 his work set a record price at a Christie’s charity auction and was sold for the immense sum. The part of his eccentric behavior is a delight for throwing parties like he did with MOCA's annual gala which was a weed-themed bacchanalia. Although it might seem odd and unserious, the decadent and humorous art of Rob Pruitt is always well thought and based on the critical reflection of contemporaneity and all of its recurrences.
