Label Type
Mystery MondayLabel
Happy Juneteenth Boilermakers! On this date one hundred and fifty-eight years ago, Major General Granger issued the order that officially freed all enslaved people in Texas, ending one of the most tragic and shameful practices in US history. Today’s Mystery Monday piece features a contemporary Texas born artist. Can you name him?
Did you guess Rob Pruitt? Pruitt was born in Houston, Texas in 1975 and studied art at Texas Southern University and University of Texas at Austin. While living in Houston, he cofounded the artist collective Otabenga Jones & Associates, named after Ota Benga (ca. 1883-1916), an enslaved African man who was displayed as a specimen in the St. Louis World’s Fair and the Bronx Zoo from 1904 until 1906. He currently lives in New York City and operates the MF Problem artist collective with his partner Autumn Knight, an installation and performance artist.
Pruitt works in a variety of mediums focusing on the experiences of Black and BIPOC Americans. This piece is typical of his large-scale portraits that are both regal and intimate, celebratory and introspective. He includes refences to hip hop, science fiction, comic books, Black history, and mythology. According to Pruitt, “There is a sense that the characters I draw form this world in my mind; a liberated Black populace that exists in my imagination and hopefully exists in real life someday.” Here a female model poses in a red shirt and black and white chevron skirt. She stands proudly, with her shoulders thrown back and her chin raised. Perched in her hair is a camera like the 16 mm Bell and Howell motion picture camera used by activist Malcolm X (1925-1965) on his 1959 tour of Africa and the Middle East.
Pruitt creates his art by first taking dozens of photographs of his models, mostly pulled from his friends and family, in elaborate outfits and wigs. He then sketches on large sheets of paper stained with coffee, tea, or fabric dye. This work was part of his 2017 Heavenly Bodies series and is one of three of his pieces in the Purdue Galleries’ permanent collection. It was purchased through the generous support of the Florence Lonsford Endowment Fund.
Title: Malcom’s Camera
Artist: Robert Pruitt (b. 1975), American
Date: 2017
Medium: Conté crayon on paper
Technique: Drawing
Accession number: 2017.03.02
