Panda and Bamboo, 2001, courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown's Enterprise

Installation view, 9/16/2006 – 10/14/2006, courtesy of Gavin Brown’s Enterprise. 

Exquisite Self-Portrait: The Artist, 2010, courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown's Enterprise

Cardboard Monster: Corinna, 2010, courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown's Enterprise

Rob Pruitt

Rob Pruitt’s (b. Washington D.C., 1964) work is rooted in a pop sensibility and a playful critique of art world structures. His conceptual projects have included performance-based artworks like his recent Art Awards, presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (2009, 2010) and modeled after Hollywood awards ceremonies, as well as simple gestures that promote possibilities for creativity in everyday life, as demonstrated in the series 101 Art Ideas You Can Do Yourself (2001). From his glittering paintings of panda bears and sculptural formations of blue jeans to his operative flea markets, Pruitt’s work is always characterized by an incisive humor and exuberant visual flair.
 
Discussing The Andy Monument, Pruitt explains, “New York itself, an international epicenter of artistic and cultural production, stands as a monument to Andy Warhol. Every day a thousand more kids come to New York propelled by his legacy. And even if the decades pass and Warhol's legacy becomes further distant, there is a direct link to him – this pilgrimage, coming here to make it big, to be an artist. Like Oscar Wilde's grave at Père Lachaise, there should be a destination in New York to mark that journey. I think something needs to be in the streets of New York, something you could visit at 4:30 in the morning. The final nod to [Union Square’s] history and its heritage should be marked with the likeness of the man who personified a new way of making art and making culture – a sculptural icon for the aspiring generations that New York City, and especially Union Square, continues to draw.”

Institutions that have organized solo presentations of his work include the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati (2001), and the American Academy in Rome (2008). He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions internationally, including Greater New York, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City (2000); Post-POP, Post-PUNK, Museum of Contemporary Art, Washington, D.C. (2000); Protest and Survive, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2000); Vantage Point, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2001); The Americans New Art, Barbican Gallery, London (2001); Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum (2002); Trade, White Columns, New York (2005); Seeing Double, Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh (2005); General Ideas: Rethinking Conceptual Art 1987–2005, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francsico (2005); The Inside Game, Portland Art Center (2006); The Station, Art Basel Miami (2008); Mapping the Studio, Palazzo Grassi (2009); andPop Life: Art in a Material World, Tate Modern, London (2009)