Robert Peterson
I believe that all visual artist go through various stages in their career overtime where they will explore not only different mediums and subjects but also themselves. It has always been important to my development as an artist to go through these stages of exploring myself and different ways of creating because they have pushed me to come out on the other side a better artist and person than I was.
Initially, the paintings that I created were based solely on stock images of celebrities that I found on the internet. As I grew as an artist so did my desire to become more creative and so I began photographing men, women, and children that I know. Over the past two years, my paintings began to evolve and focus more on the black experience as I know it through my life which is obviously projected onto each new work. My art is my truth and my voice, it reflects a softer side of black people often not portrayed in the media and yet it still finds a way to show our strength and resilience, something that I want to see more of in galleries and museums.

Iron Sharpens Iron

Iron Sharpens Iron

Sunshine

Watch Over Us

Head In The Clouds

You Before Me

CRWN

Sometimes the King is a WOMAN

All my life

We're Gonna Be Kings

Facing Your Fears

The Chair
Expo Chicago, Stand 107
April 7, 2022 to April 10, 2022
Navy Pier, Chicago IL
View exhibit press release (pdf)
Claire Oliver Gallery is thrilled to announce our return to Chicago for a long-overdue in-person celebration of art. At this inception of EXPO CHICAGO, the Gallery will bring major new works by artists Gio Swaby, Robert Peterson, Adebunmi Gbadebo, and Stan Squirewell. These artists whose practices vary but share a commonality in their desire to reframe the often-politicized Black body.
In addition to these powerful voices the Gallery will present a special exhibition, "The Lost Negatives," the works of photographer Jeffery Henson Scales. Historically significant, culturally cool, and artistically framed, the works transcend the view into the artist's unique vantage point to history. The exhibition features photographs from the 1960s including Henson Scales’ earliest forays as a photographer during the electrifying summer of 1967 when, at age 13, he toured the Midwest to see relatives in Chicago. As a Black teenager, he saw the poverty and oppression of Northern Black communities and when he returned to Oakland, CA became immersed in photographing the milieu of the Black Panther movement in Northern California. These images chart the emergence of his awakening as a documentary photographer as well as a Black man in a pivotal moment in the 20th century that echoes today’s Black Lives Matter movement.

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Sunshine

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Iron Sharpens Iron

Current image:
Seeing You Through Her and Me: Vo
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
2022

Current image:
Seeing You Through Her and Me: Carissa
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
2022

Current image:
Seeing You Through Her and Me: Jodi
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
2022

Current image:
Sacred Twins
Photo Collage, Mixed Media, Hand Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
2022

Current image:
Papa Gimme Candy, Gramma Not At All
Photo Collage, Mixed Media, Hand Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
2022

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In A Time Of Panthers 2
Gelatin Silver Print
1969

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In A Time Of Panthers 17
Gelatin Silver Print
1968

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In A Time Of Panthers 23
1968

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In A Time Of Panthers 19
Gelatin Silver Print
1968

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Blues People
Human Black Hair, Cotton, Rice Paper, Denim, Indigo, Hair Dye, Silk Screen Print
2021

Current image:
Blues People 19
Human Black Hair, Cotton, Rice Paper, Denim, Indigo, Hair Dye, Silk Screen Print
2021
Robert Peterson: New Work
September 8, 2022 to November 5, 2022
Claire Oliver Gallery
View exhibit press release (pdf)
"My paintings and the people I paint will live forever, longer than you or I. Black men and boys are gunned down and dying daily and to often they don’t get the chance to live long lives. My goal with every painting especially those focusing on a black person is to not only change the narrative of how black people are seen but also to make sure that they get a chance to live forever through my works similar to the stories and paintings of Kings and Saints."
-Robert Peterson
UNTITLED ART, Miami Beach 2021
November 29, 2021 to December 4, 2021
Miami Beach, FL
View exhibit press release (pdf)
CLAIRE OLIVER GALLERY IS PLEASED TO PRESENT POINT OF CONTACT, AT UNTITLED MIAMI
The Four Person Exhibition Will Feature New Works by Gallery Artists
Barbara Earl Thomas and Gio Swaby and Debuting Works by Gallery Newcomers Robert Peterson and Stan Squirewell
On View at Untitled Miami, November 29 – December 4, 2021
Point of Contact features the work of four artists whose practices vary but share commonality in their desire to reframe the often politicized Black body. Featuring figuration across mediums including Thomas’s signature polychrome cut paper, Swaby’s thread line
drawings on textile and polychrome quilt portraits, Peterson’s monumental oil on canvases and Squirewell’s mixed media photo collage, each work presents an opportunity for engagement where the art historical “gaze” is reversed and viewers are met as equals. The four artists use their works as a striking rebuke to white supremacy, eschewing negativity, they uplift by depicting their community in beauty, joy, and power as the ultimate form of resistance

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Point Of Contact Installation View
2021

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Lady With Flowers
Paper cut with hand printed color
2021

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Point Of Contact Visitors looking at Gio Swaby
2021

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Pretty Pretty 10
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
2021

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Pretty Pretty 10 (detail)
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
2021

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Watch Over Us
Oil on Canvas
2021

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Point Of Contact Visitors looking at Robert Peterson
2021

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Lil Benny
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
2021

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Lil Benny
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
2021

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Point Of Contact Visitors looking at Stan Squirewell
2021

Current image:
Point Of Contact Visitors looking at Robert Peterson
2021

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You Before Me
Oil on panel
2021

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CRWN
Oil on Canvas
2021

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Love Letter 10
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
2021

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Easter Sunday
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
2021

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Love Letter 8
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
2021

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All my life
Oil on Canvas
2021

Current image:
Point Of Contact Visitors looking at Stan Squirewell
2021

Current image:
Crystal Mae
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
2021

Current image:
Point Of Contact Installation View
2021

Current image:
Soufside Louie
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
2021

Current image:
Soufside Louie
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
2021

Current image:
Pretty Pretty 11
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
2021

Current image:
Love Letter 9
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
2021

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PrettyPretty12
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
2021

Current image:
Bonita Sioux
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
2021

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Saintpaulia
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
2021
Sunshine

Iron Sharpens Iron

Seeing You Through Her and Me: Vo
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
84 x 48 x 1.5 in | 213.4 x 121.9 x 3.8 cm
2022

Seeing You Through Her and Me: Carissa
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
78 x 62 x 1.5 in | 198.1 x 157.5 x 3.8 cm
2022

Seeing You Through Her and Me: Jodi
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
78 x 62 x 1.5 in | 198.1 x 157.5 x 3.8 cm
2022

Sacred Twins
Photo Collage, Mixed Media, Hand Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
48 x 47.5 x 2.5 in | 121.9 x 120.7 x 6.4 cm
2022

Papa Gimme Candy, Gramma Not At All
Photo Collage, Mixed Media, Hand Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
38 x 52.75 x 2.5 in | 96.5 x 134.0 x 6.4 cm
2022

In A Time Of Panthers 2
Gelatin Silver Print
22 x 14.75 in | 55.9 x 37.5 cm
1969

In A Time Of Panthers 17
Gelatin Silver Print
22 x 14.75 in | 55.9 x 37.5 cm
1968

In A Time Of Panthers 23
22 x 14.75 in | 55.9 x 37.5 cm
1968

In A Time Of Panthers 19
Gelatin Silver Print
14.75 x 22 in | 37.5 x 55.9 cm
1968

Blues People
Human Black Hair, Cotton, Rice Paper, Denim, Indigo, Hair Dye, Silk Screen Print
60 x 70 x 1.5 in | 152.4 x 177.8 x 3.8 cm
2021

Blues People 19
Human Black Hair, Cotton, Rice Paper, Denim, Indigo, Hair Dye, Silk Screen Print
18 x 22 x 1 in | 45.7 x 55.9 x 2.5 cm
2021

Point Of Contact Installation View

Lady With Flowers
Paper cut with hand printed color
38.25 x 40 in | 97.2 x 101.6 cm
2021

Point Of Contact Visitors looking at Gio Swaby

Pretty Pretty 10
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
38 x 84 x 2 in | 96.5 x 213.4 x 5.1 cm
2021

Pretty Pretty 10 (detail)
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
38 x 84 x 2 in | 96.5 x 213.4 x 5.1 cm
2021

Watch Over Us
Oil on Canvas
114 x 60 x 2 in | 289.6 x 152.4 x 5.1 cm
2021

Point Of Contact Visitors looking at Robert Peterson

Lil Benny
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
30.75 x 54 x 3 in | 78.1 x 137.2 x 7.6 cm
2021

Lil Benny
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
30.5 x 54 x 3 in | 77.5 x 137.2 x 7.6 cm
2021

Point Of Contact Visitors looking at Stan Squirewell

Point Of Contact Visitors looking at Robert Peterson

You Before Me
Oil on panel
36 x 60 x 2 in | 91.4 x 152.4 x 5.1 cm
2021

CRWN
Oil on Canvas
18 x 24 x 2 in | 45.7 x 61.0 x 5.1 cm
2021

Love Letter 10
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
38 x 84 x 2 in | 96.5 x 213.4 x 5.1 cm
2021

Easter Sunday
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
45 x 51.5 x 3 in | 114.3 x 130.8 x 7.6 cm
2021

Love Letter 8
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
38 x 84 x 2 in | 96.5 x 213.4 x 5.1 cm
2021

All my life
Oil on Canvas
72 x 48 x 2 in | 182.9 x 121.9 x 5.1 cm
2021

Point Of Contact Visitors looking at Stan Squirewell

Crystal Mae
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
20.25 x 25.5 x 3 in | 51.4 x 64.8 x 7.6 cm
2021

Point Of Contact Installation View

Soufside Louie
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
16.5 x 18.5 x 3 in | 41.9 x 47.0 x 7.6 cm
2021

Soufside Louie
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
16.5 x 18.5 x 3 in | 41.9 x 47.0 x 7.6 cm
2021

Pretty Pretty 11
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
38 x 84 x 2 in | 96.5 x 213.4 x 5.1 cm
2021

Love Letter 9
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
38 x 84 x 2 in | 96.5 x 213.4 x 5.1 cm
2021

PrettyPretty12
cotton fabric and thread sewn on muslin
38 x 84 x 2 in | 96.5 x 213.4 x 5.1 cm
2021

Bonita Sioux
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
20.5 x 25.5 x 3 in | 52.1 x 64.8 x 7.6 cm
2021

Saintpaulia
Mixed Media Collage with Carved Shou Sugi Ban Frame
23 x 19 x 3 in | 58.4 x 48.3 x 7.6 cm
2021


Press
Harlem’s Trailblazing Claire Oliver Gallery Premieres At Untitled Miami 2021
harlem world
November 23, 2021