Robert Watts • Career History
Robert Watts participated in major art movements of his time, during a career spanning the late 1950s to his death in 1988, from Neo-Dada, Pop Art, to Conceptual and Intermedia. He was an influential founder in the Fluxus movement, a collaborator with highly esteemed artists and composers, and a virtuoso of nontraditional materials.
Born: 1923, Burlington, Iowa, USA
Died: 1988, Martins Creek, Pennsylvania, USA
Education:
University of Louisville, B.M.E., 1944
Art Students League, New York, 1948
Columbia University, New York, M.A., Art History, 1951
Teaching:
Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn, New York 1951–1952
Professor of Art, Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1953–1984
Resident Artists in Film and Mixed Media, 1964 –1982
Carnegie Corporation Visual Artists Program, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1968/69.
Individual Exhibitions
1958 Delacorte Gallery, New York.
1960 Objects, Motorized Constructions. Grand Central Moderns, New York.
1962 Constructions, Objects, Events and Games. Grand Central Moderns, New York.
1966 Three Environments and Objects. Bianchini Gallery, New York.
Neons and Objects. Ricke Gallery, Kassel, Germany.
1967 Galleria Christian Stein, Torino, Italy.
1968 Neon: Objekte, Skulpturen. Ricke Gallery, Cologne, Germany.
1970 Neon. Ricke Gallery, Cologne, Germany.
1971 Addendum to Pop. Apple Gallery, New York.
1973 Auto Series (photo murals). La Bertesca, Milan, Italy.
Retrospective exhibition, Galerie Baecker, Bochum, Germany.
1974 Retrospective exhibition, Multhipla, Milan, Italy.
1975 Signatures in Neon: Old and New Masters. Multhipla, Milan, Italy.
1976 New Light on West Africa. René Block Gallery, New York.
1977 Cloud Music. (in collaboration with Bob Diamond and David Behrman) San Francisco Art Institute, California.
Oraculum. Studio Morra, Naples, Italy.
1988 Memorial Exhibition, Downtown Arts Building, Rutgers University, New Jersey.
1989 Silkscreen Editions. Krief Galerie, Paris.
Flux Med: Robert Watts, Obra Grafica 1987. Joan Guaita, Estudi d’art Contemporani, Madrid, Palma, Spain.
1990 Robert Watts, Selected Works 1960–1988. Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Robert Watts, L’Objet Photographique et Autres Oeuvres. Galerie Zabriskie, Paris.
A Tribute to Robert Watts. Leo Castelli Gallery, New York.
1991 Watts Natural: Selected Works by Robert Watts, 1964-1987. Curated by Sid Sachs. Michiko Okaya, Exhibition Director. Lafayette College of Art, Easton, PA
1996 Robert Watts: Artistamps/1961-1986. Stamp Art Gallery, San Francisco, California
1999 Robert Watts: The Invisible Man of Pop and Fluxus, The Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany. Curated by Rene Block and Tobias Berger
2001 Flux Med: Graphic Works by Robert Watts, Bucknell Art Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA. Curated by Stuart Horodner
Robert Watts: Photography Into Sculpture and other works. Leslie Tonkonow Artworks and Projects, NYC
2006 Robert Watts: Art on Art. Leslie Tonkonow Artworks and Projects, NYC. Curated by Larry Miller
2018 Archivio Conz Presents Robert Watts, Art Basel, Supportico-Lopez Gallery, Berlin