Robert Pruitt

Robert Pruitt creates large-scale drawings of Black subjects within imagined narratives that draw on elements of hip-hop culture, comic books, science fiction, and historical Black struggles. He renders his figures—based on friends, family, and acquaintances—in conté on hand-dyed paper. They appear stylish and confident, and their outfits are striking amalgamations of superhero costumes, African ceremonial dress, political T-shirts, spacesuits, and streetwear. Their style ties them to precolonial pasts and radical futures. Pruitt completed his MFA at the University of Texas at Austin in 2003 and has exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among other institutions. In 2006, he participated in the Whitney Biennial. His work can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, the Nasher Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Pruitt is also part of the artist collective Otabenga Jones & Associates.