Robert Buelteman

Robert Buelteman is an artist whose fascination with connection and transcendence is reflected in his photographs, which portray the universe as alive and life as sacred. His prints are a powerful extraction of beauty and substance, revealing unrecognized dimensions in the commonplace.

Mr. Buelteman developed his love of his subject as a child growing up in the small town of Woodside on the peninsula south of San Francisco. His previous work for environmental organizations inspired the veneration of life and light that appear in his photographs today.

As veteran of over 70 solo exhibitions in 3 countries, he has published fifteen photographic portfolios over his forty years in photography, and three of these, The Unseen Peninsula (1994), Eighteen Days in June (2000), and Signs of Life (2009) were published as award-winning monographs. In 1999, Buelteman left photographic tradition behind in creating Through the Green Fuse, a portfolio of unique photograms made without cameras, lenses, or computers.

He writes, “My technique has more in common with Chinese brush painting and improvisational jazz than it does with the current practices of photography. Every aspect of the subject’s contact on the film is organic, dynamic, and irr...

University of Colorado, University of California Berkeley, California State University San Francisco

2025
Robert Buelteman: Forty Years, Shari Brownfield Fine Art, Jackson, Wyoming
2023
Unseen/Seen, Shari Brownfield Fine Art, Jackson, Wyoming
Through the Green Fuse, First Republic Bank World Headquarters, San Francisco, California
2021
every thing shines, Shari Brownfield Fine Art, Jackson, Wyoming
Robert Buelteman: Chasing the Light at Stanford's Jasper Ridge, Art Ventures Gallery, Menlo Park, California
2020
Robert Buelteman, Slate Art Gallery, Oakland, California
2019
Biophilia, Art Ventures Gallery, Menlo Park, California
2018
Radical Botanical, 101 Second Street Gallery, San Francisco, California
2016
Who Speaks for the Land? – Robert Buelteman’s Peninsula, San Mateo County History Museum, Redwood City, California
Botanica, Stanford Art Spaces, Stanford University, California
2015
Signs of Life, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2014
Signs of Life: Photograms by Robert Buelteman, Denver Botanic Museum, Denver, Colorado
Chasing the Light: Morning at Jasper Ridge, San Francisco International Airport Museum, San Francisco, California
2013
Signs of Life, PHOTO Oakland Gallery, Oakland, California
2012
Signs of Life, Sanchez Art Center Gallery, Pacifica, California
2011
Signs of Life, Mumm Napa Gallery, Ruther...