Robert Atwell

In his spare, abstract paintings, works on paper, and installations, Robert Atwell walks the line between the
digital and the handmade, exploring how this intersection shapes his own approach to art-making.
Intentionally ambiguous, with titles that record the date and time of their making without hinting at their
subject matter, Atwell’s works are the end products of a labor-intensive process of visual distillation. A
keen observer of his surroundings, he begins by sketching what inspires him, including the flat Midwestern
landscape, consumer culture and advertisements, vintage cartoons, and digital graphics. He then moves to
the computer, using it to manipulate and pare down his sketches, transforming them into cartoonish,
geometric shapes that he translates into slick, hard-edged paintings on aluminum, intimate collages on
paper, and immersive installations—the essence of an image-saturated world.

2002 M.F.A. Iowa State University, Ames, IA
1995 B.F.A. Iowa State University, Ames, IA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 Robert Atwell, Simon Gallery, Morristown, NJ
2011 Robert Atwell, Simon Gallery, Morristown, NJ
2009 Robert Atwell, Simon Gallery, Morristown, NJ
2008 Robert Atwell, Walker Art Gallery, University of Nebraska-Kearney, Kearney, NE
2007 Today and Tomorrow, James Watrous Gallery, Madison, WI
2005 Saturday Morning Swim, Schwalbach Gallery, Baraboo, WI


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020
UW-Stout Faculty Show, Furlong Gallery, Menomonie, WI (’04-‘20)

2019
Drawing Distinctions, Cello Factory, London, England

2018
Drawing Distinctions, Furlong Gallery, Menomonie, WI

2014
CHROM[A]CHROMA- Robert Atwell, Mathew Kluber and Dragana Crnjak, Furlong Gallery,
Menomonie, WI
Sure Thing, Gilman Contemporary, Ketchum, ID

2013
Two Points-Robert Atwell and Daniel Atyim, Grand View University, Des Moines, IA
Wisconsin Triennial – Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA), Madison, WI

2012
Robert Atwell, Alex Couwenberg , Marco Casentini , Stephanie Weber, Constructive Spirit,
Gilman Contemporary, Ketchum, ID
‘Untitled’ Simon Gallery, Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster, NJ
The $99 Sale!, The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN
Art Around the Park, CITI, Morristown, NJ

2011
Affordable Art Fair N...