Robert Pruitt

Robert Pruitt (born 1975) is a visual artist from Houston, Texas living in New York City who is known for his figurative drawings and who also works with sculpture, photography, and animation.

Early life and education Born in 1975 in Houston, TX, Pruitt grew up in Houston's Third and Fourth Wards, frequently in and around his family's funeral home, Pruitt and Pruitt. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas in 2000 and Master of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Austin in 2003. From 2004–2008, he was a curator at Project Row Houses.

Artistic career

A participant in both the 2010 SITE Santa Fe Eighth International Biennial: The Dissolve and the 2006 Whitney Biennial: Day for Night, Pruitt was awarded residencies at the Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2014 and 2015, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska in 2015, Gallery MOMO in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2015, and The Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2016.

Otabenga Jones & Associates Pruitt is a founding member of the Houston artist collective, Otabenga Jones & Associates, alongside Dawolu Jabari Anderson, Jamal Cyrus, and Kenya Evans. Initially created in 2002, they worked in a studio underneath the Eldorado Ballroom and the name comes from Ota Benga, an African pygmy who in 1906 was put on display at the Bronx Zoo.

Selected Exhibition History Day for Night, Whitney Biennial 2006, New York Lessons from Below: Otabenga Jones & Associates, 2007, The Menil Collection Robert Pruitt: Women, 2013, Studio Museum, Harlem, New York Robert Pruitt: Planetary Survey, 2017, Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Seattle Robert Pruitt: Benediction, 2017, Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita Kansas Robert Pruitt: Devotion, 2018–19, California African American Museum, Los Angeles The Majesty of Kings Long Dead, 2019, Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Seattle The Banner Project: Robert Pruitt, 2019–20, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Robert Pruitt: Infinite, 2026–27, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Awards The Arch and Anne Giles Kimbrough Fund Award, 1999 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award, 2007 Creative Capital Foundation Award, 2007 Art Matters Foundation Grant, 2009 Artist of the Year, Houston Art Fair, 2013 William H. Johnson Foundation for the Arts Prize, 2013 Idea Fund Grant, 2014 Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts Artist In Residence, 2015 Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, 2016 Medal of Arts, Art in Embassies, U.S. Department of State, 2023