Hyundai Card First Look: Robert Pruitt

Installation. Nov 23, 2026–Spring 2027. Robert Pruitt is deeply devoted to the act of drawing as a way to “remember the texture of place and time.” His large-scale portraits of Black subjects are both anchored in the present moment and entwined with personal memory, family archives, mythology, and a speculative vision. Drawing on coffee-stained paper—a choice he explains is “in opposition to whiteness as a neutral background”—the artist often incorporates intricate symbols, including references to Black culture, in his work. Here, a sitter in a moment of stoic contemplation is partially enveloped by winding foliage. Just visible among the leaves are lizards, which the artist has described as “holdovers from an earlier, perhaps primordial time” and representative of resilience, with their ability to regenerate their tails. The woman’s gold hoop earrings and angular hairstyle recall the 1980s and ’90s fashions that surrounded Pruitt while growing up in Houston, Texas—exemplifying the artist’s integration of tradition and recollection in his otherworldly portraits.