• Jamaican-American, b. 1992 Lives and works Lawrenceville, NJ Stuart Robertson’s multimedia practice moves between figuration and abstraction, and includes painting,...

    Jamaican-American, b. 1992 

    Lives and works Lawrenceville, NJ 

     

    Stuart Robertson’s multimedia practice moves between figuration and abstraction, and includes painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, and installation. His work reflects his own diasporic experience of living between his birthplace of Kingston, Jamaica, and his current home of the United States.
     
    Robertson’s latest works are mixed media portraits depicting scenes drawn from family albums, archives, and social media. He combines acrylic paint with non-traditional materials, including aluminum, insulation foam, bubble wrap, cardboard, and textiles. Robertson’s metallic-skinned subjects embody bling, shine, and glow, and his images of Black life, resplendent and irrepressible, reject distortion, misrepresentation, and erasure.
     
    For Robertson, the Black body is “both vessel and substance,” and each portrait, intimate yet anonymous, “complicates the concept of identity and skin color-as-race.” Says the artist, “In my world, Black skin is durable, weatherproof, conductive, magnetic, flexible, percussive, and indestructible. These lustrous figures offer unusual interactions with images of Blackness and invoke metaphors of the Black body that position skin as much more than an indicator of race.” 
     
    Robertson received his MFA from Stanford University, CA in 2020, MSEd from the University of Pennsylvania in 2018, and BA from Davidson College, NC in 2015. He is a finalist and commended artist in the National Portrait Gallery’s 2022 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and earned a 2019 Cadogan Scholarship from the San Francisco Foundation. Robertson has received residencies at the Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA; Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA; Lawrenceville School, NJ; and The Space Program, San Francisco, CA. His work is included in the nationally touring exhibition The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today (2022-2024), and Homecoming: Art by Alumni at Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson College, NC (2023).
     
    Artist CV (PDF)
  • Works
    • Stuart Robertson The Heart, Meira R., 2023 Aluminum, paper, underlayment and textiles on wood 38 x 38 inches, framed
      Stuart Robertson
      The Heart, Meira R., 2023
      Aluminum, paper, underlayment and textiles on wood
      38 x 38 inches, framed
      Inquire
    • Stuart Robertson Eva Ready, Keida C., 2024 Aluminum, textiles, craft paper, acrylic, and sawdust on wood 25 x 25 inches, framed
      Stuart Robertson
      Eva Ready, Keida C., 2024
      Aluminum, textiles, craft paper, acrylic, and sawdust on wood
      25 x 25 inches, framed
      Inquire
    • Stuart Robertson Bigga Boss, Jodi B., 2024 Aluminum, textiles, and craft paper on wood 25 x 25 inches, framed
      Stuart Robertson
      Bigga Boss, Jodi B., 2024
      Aluminum, textiles, and craft paper on wood
      25 x 25 inches, framed
      Inquire
    • Stuart Robertson The Choice, Courteney R., 2023 Paper and textiles on wood 21.5 x 21.5 inches, framed
      Stuart Robertson
      The Choice, Courteney R., 2023
      Paper and textiles on wood
      21.5 x 21.5 inches, framed
      Inquire
    • Stuart Robertson The Bearer, Stuart R., 2023 Paper and textiles on wood 13.5 x 13.5 inches, framed
      Stuart Robertson
      The Bearer, Stuart R., 2023
      Paper and textiles on wood
      13.5 x 13.5 inches, framed
      Inquire
    • Stuart Robertson Untitled (His Only Wife), 2022 Aluminum, textiles, paper, insulation foam, bubble wrap and acrylic on wood 25.5 x 25.5 inches, framed
      Stuart Robertson
      Untitled (His Only Wife), 2022
      Aluminum, textiles, paper, insulation foam, bubble wrap and acrylic on wood
      25.5 x 25.5 inches, framed
      Inquire
    • Stuart Robertson Untitled (Homegoing), 2022 Aluminum, textiles, paper, insulation foam, bubble wrap, glitter foam and acrylic on wood 25.5 x 25.5 inches, framed
      Stuart Robertson
      Untitled (Homegoing), 2022
      Aluminum, textiles, paper, insulation foam, bubble wrap, glitter foam and acrylic on wood
      25.5 x 25.5 inches, framed
      Inquire
    • Stuart Robertson Soun’ Di Big Ting: The Black Star, David L.; Twin Seed, Donahue M.; Clansman, Omar B.; The Healer, Theophilus N, 2022 Textiles, paper, earth and saw dust on wood Four panels, each: 8 x 8 inches
      Stuart Robertson
      Soun’ Di Big Ting: The Black Star, David L.; Twin Seed, Donahue M.; Clansman, Omar B.; The Healer, Theophilus N, 2022
      Textiles, paper, earth and saw dust on wood
      Four panels, each: 8 x 8 inches
      Inquire
  • News
  • Press

  • Caroline Roy, “Unique Works, New Works Showcased in ‘Homecoming: Art by Alumni’ Exhibition,” Davidson College, October 30, 2023

    Mark Jenkins, “A portrait competition that stretches the definition of a likeness,” The Washington Post, May 12, 2022

    Meilan Solly, “Portrait of a Covid-Era Haircut Claims First Prize in the Outwin Boochever Competition,” Smithsonian Magazine, April 29, 2022

    Luke Williams, “Forged like metal: Stuart Robertson shines in his first solo exhibition,” C-Ville Weekly, March 2, 2022

    Kathleen J. Sullivan, “Stanford students ‘collapsing distance’ through art,” Stanford University, April 5, 2021

    Lloyd Lee, “One message told 16 ways: Artists behind Black Lives Matter mural in Palo Alto ask what more will be done beyond street art,” Palo Alto Online, July 1, 2020