Brian Robertson


Born 1978 Albuquerque, N.M. – Living and working in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Robertson earned his B.F.A. in Illustration from the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design in 2003. The artist conceptualizes paintings through a process of both traditional drawing & digital composing, working within a strict color palette of black and white. Through a painstaking study process the artist visualizes countless options within a single work before he arrives at the final composition. Once the study is complete, he employs a wide range of techniques with acrylic paint, medium, airbrush, masking, and other tools to create the final painting.

Robertson’s work is an amalgam of influences ranging from the desert landscape and internet culture through painting styles that includes geometric abstraction, Surrealism, Mid-Century still life, Japanese print design, Post-Analog painting, New Romanticism and others. Primarily using himself as the subject, Robertson combines these influences and practices to create works of introspection. At times whimsical, longing, cryptic or often a combination of all three, Robertson uses objects and symbols, both real and imagined through a metaphorical lens of creating complex narratives that approach the concept of self-portraiture.

After years of producing highly technical, conceptually driven paintings, Robertson’s recent work signifies a deliberate return to the fundamentals of image-making. Color, texture, and composition now form the core of his visual language. While rooted in autobiography, the scenes he depicts are not mere representations of daily life. Rather, they are drawn from moments of personal significance—places that serve as emotional or psychological inflection points. These compositions are shaped as much by memory and feeling as by observation, unfolding with the fluidity of dreams and the distortion of recalled experience.

A hallmark of this new body of work is its heightened emphasis on surface and materiality. Texture, previously a supporting element, now takes a central role. Through an exacting process Robertson refers to as “fabric printing,” fabric is embedded into wet acrylic paint and then removed after drying, leaving behind only the imprint of its weave. This process is followed by a “drawing phase,” during which yarn and string are meticulously applied to articulate forms and suggest new ones. The resulting works evoke the visual language of folk art and textile traditions—particularly quilting—while remaining grounded in contemporary painterly practice.

This shift in approach reflects not only a transformation in Robertson’s methodology but also in his artistic intent. These works are an act of re-visioning: of the self, of space, and of the remembered moment. They synthesize decades of experimentation across media into a unified practice, one that honors both the history of painting and the tactile, narrative traditions of domestic craft. In doing so, Robertson positions himself within a lineage of artists who use material and memory to tell stories—of place, of time, and of personal transformation.


PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS

  • 2022
    “Feels” Everyday Mooonday, Seoul, Korea
    “The Game Show” Galerie Droste, Dusseldorf, Germany

    2021
    “Imaginary Friends” Over The Influence, Hong Kong

    2020
    “Desert Brain” Galerie Droste, Paris, France
    Dallas Art Fair, Galerie Droste, Dallas, TX

    2018
    Volta Art Fair, C.E.S. Gallery, New York City, NY

    2016
    “Hollow Forms,” C.E.S. Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

    2015
    “Meta Structures” Blackbook Gallery, Denver, CO

    2013
    "Way Out on The Inside" Soze Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

    2011
    "Whoa" Illiterate Gallery, Denver, CO

    2008
    “Lift & Carry" Downtown Aurora Visual Arts Center, Aurora, CO

    2007
    “Habit” Pirate Gallery, Denver, CO

    2006
    “New Works” Pirate Gallery, Denver CO

  • 2023
    “Otherworldly,” Future Gallery, Berlin, Germany
    Future fair, Over The Influence, New York, NY.

    2022
    “Grand opening group show,” Galerie Droste, Paris, France

    2021
    N.A.D.A. Over The Influence, Miami Beach, Florida
    “Chronicles 3” Galerie Droste, Berlin, Germany
    “Interconnected” John Wolf Galler, Los Angeles, CA

    2020
    Avenue De Arts Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
    “Drawn Together,” Unit London, London, United Kingdom
    “Stranger Things,” Ojiri Gallery, London, United Kingdom
    “Black & White Vs. Color,” Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

    2019
    “Sweet Primal Things” James Wright Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
    “Dice Theroy,” Galerie Uqbar,, Berlin, Germany
    “A Secret” River Gallery, Berlin, Germany
    “Chronicles,” Galerie Droste, Wuppertal, Germany
    “Midlife Crisis,” O Project Space, Los Angeles, CA

    2018
    “We gather here today,” Dread Lounge, Los Angeles, CA
    “Hidden Brain,” LAVA Projects, Los Angeles, CA
    “Art is where the heart is, VOL. 2,” Galerie Droste, Paris, France
    “3 Paintings, 3 Sculptures & 3 Potted Plants,” Ochi Gallery, Sun Valley, Idaho

    2017
    “Psychonauts,” C.E.S. Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
    “The Dick Pic Show,” Chimento Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
    “Trust Fall,” Also Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

    2016
    “End of Semester,” BBQLA Los Angeles, CA

    2015
    “The Duck Show,” Minotaur Projects, Los Angeles, CA
    “Big Bad Beef Rub,” BBQLA, Los Angeles, CA

    2014
    "Space Squared" White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA

    2013
    "Group Show Vol.1" Gildar Gallery, Denver, CO
    12"x12," Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO

  • BOOOOOOM, staff, October 2021 Art Asia Pacific, emoji review, September, 2021 Juxtapoz, Sasha Bogojev, November 2020 Contemporary Art Review L.A., Aaron Horst, May 2017 Hyperallergic, Daniel Gerwin, April 2017 Contemporary Art Review L.A., Pablo Lopez, November 2016 Wall Street International, May 2017 Hi Fructose, Ysabelle Cheung, April 2015 Sixfinch Art & Literary Magazine, Summer/fall edition, 2013 L.A. Canvas, April 2012 O.C. Weekly, Dave Barton, March 2011 Rocky Mountain News, Spotlight, M. Voels Chandler, July 2006