Born in 1950, Wilmington, Delaware.
Lives and works in New York.
Education
1973
Whitney Independent Study Program, New York, NY
1972
1972
BA Art History and Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY
Solo exhibitions
2020
Modern Times, Galerie Sébastien Bertrand, Geneva, Switzerland
2019
Romance, Cigarettes and More, Pure Joy, El Paso St.Marfa, TX
Walter Robinson: Shirt Paintings, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018
Romance, Artissima Art Fair, Galerie Sébastien Bertrand, Turin, Italy
Salad, Candles & Money, Johannes Vogt Gallery, New York, NY
2017
Walter Robinson, Inna Art Space, Huangzhou, China
Walter Robinson, Inna Art Space, Huangzhou, China
The Americans, Vito Schnabel Gallery, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Romance, Galerie Sébastien Bertrand, Geneva, Switzerland
2016
Biology, Stems Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Biology, Stems Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Mystic Museum of Art, Mystic, CT
Walter Robinson : A Retrospective, Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, New-York
Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson, NY
2014-16
Walter Robinson: Paintings and Other Indulgences, a retrospective at the University
Galleries, Normal, Ill.; traveling in January 2016 to Moore College Galleries, Philadelphia
2014
Figure Studies, Lynch Tham, New York
Figure Studies, Lynch Tham, New York
Painkillers, Tops, Memphis
2013
Indulgences, Dorian Grey Gallery, New York
2012
Hello from New York, Firecat Projects, Chicago
2008
Metro Pictures, New York
1998
Cabinet Gallery, London
1995
Tricia Collins Grand Salon, New York
1986
Metro Pictures, New York
Semaphore Gallery, New York
Wessel O’Connor, Rome
Zero One, Los Angeles
1985
Metro Pictures, New York (with Thomas Lawson)
Piezo Electric, New York
Zero One, Los Angeles
1984
Piezo Electric, New York
Semaphore Gallery, New York (with Duncan Hannah)
Metro Pictures, New York
1982
Metro Pictures, New York
Group exhibitions
2020
Portraits & Some Standing Figures, Galerie Sébastien Bertrand, Geneva, CH
Portraits & Some Standing Figures, Galerie Sébastien Bertrand, Geneva, CH
2019
Glenn O'Brien: Center Stage, Off Paradise, New York, NY
Pretty Woman, Galerie Derouillon, Paris, FR
Make Believe Curated By Bruce W. Ferguson, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
2018
Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980's, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
Summer of Love, Freight+Volume, New York, NY
2017
LIKE, Galerie Sébastien Bertrand, Geneva, Switzerland. Curated by Richard Kern
DOGS, Curated by Austin Lee and Oliver Clegg, 173 Green Street, Brooklyn, NY
Zeitgeist, MAMCO, Geneva, Switzerland
Fast Forward: Painting from the 1980s , The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Still (ed) Life; Part 2, Texas Gallery, Houston, TX
Still (ed) Life; Part 2, Texas Gallery, Houston, TX
Abandoned Luncheonette, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson, NY
2016
Summer show, Galerie Sébastien Bertrand, Geneva, Switzerland
Charles Bukowski & Walter Robinson: There’s a Bluebird In My Heart, Owen James, New York
Copy Paste, curated by Chris Bors, “SPRING/BREAK Art Show,” New York
Don’t Make a Scene, Kai Matsushima, New York
Hard Love, curated by Barry Blinderman, Jose Martos, New York
2015
Unrealism, curated by Jeffrey Deitch, Moore Building, Miami
Only 2.5 Hrs from GWB, curated by Pia Dehne, Hamden, New York, and Roxbury, New York
Sweet Smell of Success, curated by James and Enzo Shalom, New York, Hilton Hotel
Viewer Discretion…Children of Bataille, curated by Kathleen Cullen, Stux + Haller, New York
La femme de trente ans, curated by Caroline Soyez-Petithomme, art : concept Paris
To Your Health! The Science, Culture & Art of the Cocktail, Everhart Museum, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Twenty by Sixteen, curated by Geoffrey Young, Morgan Lehman, New York
un(Scene) art fair, New York
SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Skylight at Moynihan Station, New York
2014
Spring/Break, March 2014, New York
Bad Conscience, Metro Pictures, Jan 16-Feb 22, curated by John Miller
2013
Social Photography III, Carriage Trade, N.Y.
Peter Angemann, Walter Robinson: Plein Air - Hot Romance, Sept. 22-Nov.
4, 2013, Kunstmuehle, Muersbach, Germany, curated by Thomas Eller
4, 2013, Kunstmuehle, Muersbach, Germany, curated by Thomas Eller
404 E 14, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, June 20-Aug 2, 2013
All F*#king Summer, Gavlak Gallery, Palm Beach
Found and Lost, curated by Hope Sandrow, ArtSites, Riverhead, June 8-Aug 18
2012
Bad for You, curated by Beth Rudin deWoody, Shirazu Gallery, London
White Male Complex, curated by Thomas Eller, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin, Nov 3-24, 2012
Times Square Show Revisited, Hunter College Art Galleries, Sept. 14-Dec. 8
Claxon, curated by Walter Robinson, Haunch of Venison, New York
Ping-Pong Basel Miami, Projektraum M54, Basel, Switzerland
Data Trash, curated by Chris Dorland, I-20, New York
Desperately Seeking Susan: Art from the 1980s, Kathleen Cullen Fine Art
Loughelton Revisited, Winkleman Gallery, New York
2011
Social Photography, Carriage Trade, New York
Wit, curated by Glenn O’Brien, Paddle8
Art, Access & Decay: New York 1975-1985,” curated by Peter Frank & Lisa Kahane, Subliminal Projects, L.A.
2009
Nincompatibles, Bowman Bloom, New York
Naked, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York
Looking at Music: Side Two, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Regift, Swiss Institute, New York
Images & (Re)presentations, Le Magasin, Grenoble
2008
Market Forces, Carriage Trade, New York (and traveling)
2004
East Village USA, New Museum of Contemporary Art
Stencil & Spray, ca. 1984, The Proposition, New York
2003
OnLine, Feigen Contemporary, New York
First Person, Gallery Schlesinger, New York
The Summer of Lust, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, Mass.
Nip and Tuck, Artek Contemporaries, New York
After Matisse Picasso, P.S. 1, New York
2002
Something, Anything, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Transcendent and Unrepentant, Rosenwald Wolf Gallery, University of the Arts, Philadelphia
2000-01
Post-Hypnotic, touring show, Illinois State Galleries, Normal, Ill.
2000
Certain Things: Unlikely Treasures, Elsa Mott Ives Gallery, New York
1999
Mod!, Tricia Collins Contemporary Art, New York
Village Disco, Cabinet, London
1998
Pets, Bronwyn Keenan, New York
1997
Consumption, Printed Matter, New York
1994
Red, Barney’s for Little Red Schoolhouse, New York
American Fine Arts Benefit, New York
1993
Arachnosphere, Ramnarine Gallery, New York
Return of the Cadavre Exquis, Drawing Center, New York
Dolls in Contemporary Art, Haggerty Museum, Milwaukee
1992
Works on Paper, Momentary Modern, Amsterdam
Tabloid, Sally Hawkins Gallery, New York
1991
The Tree, Elysium Gallery, New York
1989
Strange Attractors: Signs of Chaos, New Museum, New York
1986
Signs of Painting, Metro Pictures, New York; Donald Young, Chicago
Paravision, Margo Leavin, Los Angeles
Tableaux Abstraits, Villa Arson, Nice
Greenberg’s Dilemma, Loughelton, New York
Physics, Piezo Electric, New York
1985
Auto/Genetic/Photopsia, Christminster, New York
1984
Drawings: After Photography, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin (travels to four other venues) Artists Weapons, Ted Greewald Gallery
1983
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Winston-Salem
Terminal New York, Brooklyn Army Terminal, New York
Sex, Sharpe Gallery, New York
Artist/Critic, White Columns, New York
1982
Beast, P.S.1, New York
Image Scavengers, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
1981
Episodes, Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York
Real Life Magazine Presents, Nigel Greenwood, London
Island Show, ABC No Rio, New York
1980
Times Square Show, New York
Collaborative Projects Benefit Exhibition, Brooke Alexander Gallery, New York
A. More Store, 529 Broome Street, New York
Figuring, Hallwalls, Buffalo
Real Estate Show, 123 Delancey, New York
1979
Batman Show, 591 Broadway, New York
Collections
Museum of Modern Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
FNAC, Geneva
Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Winston-Salem
Hall Family Foundation
Nina and Frank Moore
Jeffrey and Maria Eugenides
Fabiola Beracusa
Michael and Sheila Rips
Bibliography
Barry Blinderman, ed., Walter Robinson, Paintings and Other Indulgences, 144 pp., University Galleries,
Illinois State University, 2015
Collin Sundt, “Wanting to Be Art,” Artcritical, Mar. 2, 2016
Brian Boucher, “Walter Robinson at the Galleries at Moore,” Artnet Magazine, Jan. 25, 2016
Michelle Grabner, “Walter Robinson, University Galleries, Illinois State University, Artforum, Mar 2015
Sarah Schmerler, “Walter Robinson,” Art in America, Oct 2014
Noelle Bodick, “Artist Walter Robinson on Painting Desire,” Artspace Magazine, June 26, 2014
Stephanie Strasnick, “Walter Robinson,” Artnews, Sept. 2014
Phong Bui, “Walter Robinson with Phong Bui,” Brooklyn Rail, Nov. 2014
Donald Kuspit, “Walter Robinson,” Artforum, Summer 2013
Andrew Russeth, “Art Net: The Life and Times of Walter Robinson,” New York Observer, Jan 2012
Charlie Finch, The Unforbidden, Artnet Magazine, Nov. 10, 2009
Charlie Finch, “The Threat of Love,” Artnet Magazine, Apr. 8, 2008
Jeanne Siegel, ed., Artwords 2: Discourse on the Early ‘80s, 1988
Ronald Jones, “Walter Robinson,“ C Magazine, Toronto, Dec. 1987
Carlo McCormick, “pOPTOMETRY,“ Artforum, Nov. 1985, pp. 87-91
Jeanne Silverthorne, “Walter Robinson, Metro Pictures,“ Artforum, Summer 1985, pp. 112
Regan Upshaw, “Walter Robinson at Sempahore,” Art in America, Feb. 1985
Joseph Masheck, Point 1, 1984, pp. 124-127
Brooks Adams, “Walter Robinson at Metro Pictures“, Art in America, May 1982
Thomas Lawson, “Last Exit: Painting,“ Artforum, Oct. 1981
Jeffrey Deitch, “Report from Times Square,“ Art in America, June 1980
Editorial positions
Columnist, Artspace.com
Editor-in-chief and founder, Artnet Magazine, 1996-2012
Contributing editor and news editor, Art in America, 1978-2009
Columnist (“It’s a Dad’s Life“), Paper magazine, 1992-95
Art editor, East Village Eye, 1982-85
Editor, The Art Letter, 1978-82
Publisher and editor, Art-Rite magazine, 1973-78
Other positions
Contributor, Bald Ego #1, Max Blagg & Glenn O’Brien, eds.
Correspondent and on-screen commentator, Art TV Gallery Beat, 1994-2004
Author, “Instant Art History,“ Ballantine Books, 1994
Jury chair, Pernod Liquid Art competition, 1993-99
Executive director, Collaborative Projects (COLAB), 1980