Robert Sumner

Zowazonga

Medium: Acrylic On Paper

Dimensions (In INs): 22 x 30

Country: United States of America

Out of stock

Artist Bio

I am largely self-taught following the third year of my BFA program when the university I was attending disenrolled me because of my sexual orientation. I re-entered the academic world a few years later, making a pragmatic decision to obtain a BA in Arts Administration from Old Dominion University and an MBA from the University of California, Davis, after which I pursued jobs that had enough flexibility to allow me to continue to pursue my passion in the visual arts. I am now creating art full-time.

Although my formal training ended when I was an undergraduate my interest in art and cultural theory has continued and informs my painting and printmaking practice. Other influences are my love of music and the abstract, anthropomorphic, and biomorphic traditions in the visual arts that reach back to the early 20th century.

Exhibition highlights include:

UPCOMING:
o Solo Exhibition, Czong Institute of Contemporary Art (CICA) Museum, Fall 2025, Gimpo-si, South Korea
o EuropArtFair, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Circle Foundation, September 6-8, 2024
o Studio Visit Magazine, vol. 53, Sarah Montross, Sr. Curator at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Juror
o 2024 Peninsula Art League Open Juried Show, Cathy Kimball, Juror
o Lake Oswego’s ArtSpace Gallery Juried Exhibition, Sue Taylor, Juror

Solo and Group Shows

2024
o I Want You to See Me, LGBTQIA2+ Oregonian Artists, Umpqua Valley Arts, Curated by June T. Sanders
o Expressions West, Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, OR
o 2024 International Juried Exhibition, The Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster, NJ, Hunter O’Hanian, Juror

2023
o Boston Printmakers 2023 North American Print Biennial, Elizabeth M Rudy, Weyerhaeuser Curator of Prints at Harvard Art Museums, Juror
o Abstract is Abstract, HMVC Gallery, New York
o What a Relief!, Cannon Gallery of Art, Western Oregon University, Monmouth, OR

Artist Statement