ROBIN UTTERBACK (1949-2007)

Born in the small town of Holton, Kansas, Robin Utterback graduated with a B.A. from Rice University in 1971 and returned as the first student in Rice's Bachelor of Fine Arts program, receiving his B.F.A. in 1974.

Utterback quickly became an essential thread in the fabric of the burgeoning Houston art scene. A year after graduating, Utterback had his first solo exhibition at Tibor de Nagy Gallery in Houston (later Watson/de Nagy & Co.) and would later go on to exhibit in the New York location of the gallery. In 1978, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston made their first acquisition of Utterback’s work, which marked the beginning of a fruitful relationship between the institution and Utterback. The museum collection holds paintings, numerous works on paper and a suite of etchings by Utterback, and would work with him on various projects.

Utterback’s work was included in the seminal 1985 exhibition and publication Fresh Paint, an exhibition of artists deeply connected to Houston that went on to travel to MoMa PS1 and the Oklahoma Art Center, in Oklahoma City.

Often in dialogue with other artists, poets, writers and art historians, Utterback continued to explore the depths of artistic possibilities in various media. From the early 1990s through the early 2000s, Utterback collaborated with fellow artists to create energetic prints, paintings and textiles. During a 2004 tenure in Strasbourg, Utterback began a new series of works incorporating images of masks in his collages and paintings.

Following Utterback’s death in 2007, Galveston Arts Center curator Clint Willour celebrated Utterback’s life and work with the acclaimed exhibition, Remembering Robin Utterback. The exhibition catalogue featured essays and fond writings by Alison de Lima Greene, William C. Agee, Emily L. Todd, Alexandra L. Irvine and more. The artist’s trust actively works with curators, gallerists and collectors to continue the exhibition and collection of Utterback’s work, demonstrating his life and career as an essential part of Texas art history.

Utterback’s work has been exhibited in galleries nationally and in Europe in both solo and group exhibitions. His work is in collections of the Menil Collection, Houston, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the McNay Art Museum, as well as numerous other public and private collections in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and elsewhere. Utterback’s work has been covered in prominent publications such as Art in America, ARTnews, Texas Monthly, Artweek, Houston Chronicle and Houston Press.

ROBIN UTTERBACK

Born in Holton, Kansas 1949

Died in Houston, Texas, 2007

EDUCATION

1971 BA, English, Rice University, Houston, Texas

1974 BFA, Rice University, Houston, Texas

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 "Introduction: Robin Utterback", Galveston Artist Residency, Galveston, Texas

2022. "Robin Utterback: Everything Shows," Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2018 “Robin Utterback,” Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, Texas

2016 “Robin Utterback,” Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, Texas

2013 “Robin Utterback,” Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, Texas

2010 “Robin Utterback: Paintings 1974-2005,” Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, Texas

2007 “Remembering Robin Utterback,” Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, Texas

2005 “Robin Utterback,” Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston, Texas

2004 “Robin Utterback,” Galerie Espace Suisse, Strasbourg, France

“Robin Utterback,” Salle Conrath, Strasbourg, France

1999 “Robin Utterback: New Paintings,” Donahue/Sosinski Art, New York, New York

1996 “Robin Utterback: New Paintings,” Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, Texas

“Robin Utterback: New Paintings,” E.M. Donahue Gallery, New York, New York

1995 “Robin Utterback: Paintings,” Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, Texas

1993 “Robin Utterback: Recent Paintings,” Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, New York

1992 “Robin Utterback: Paintings 1989-1992,” Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Houston, Texas

“Paint Among Other Things,” Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, Texas

“Robin Utterback: Prints and Drawings 1991-1992,”Moody Gallery, Houston, Texas, in cooperation with Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, Texas

1990 “Recent Work: Robin Utterback,” Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, New York

1988 “Recent Work: Robin Utterback,” Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, New York

1987 “Robin Utterback,” Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, New York

1985 “Robin Utterback,” Watson/de Nagy and Company, Houston, Texas

1984 “Collage Painting and Painted Objects: Robin Utterback,” Watson/de Nagy and Company, Houston, Texas

1982 “Robin Utterback: Paintings and Drawings,” Watson/de Nagy and Company, Houston, Texas

1981 “Robin Utterback,” Delahunty Gallery, Houston, Texas

1979 “Robin Utterback: Recent Work,” Watson/de Nagy and Company, Houston, Texas

1978 “Robin Utterback: Recent Paintings,” Watson/de Nagy and Company, Houston, Texas

“Robin Utterback,” D. Clayton & Company, Houston, Texas

1976 “Recent Paintings: Robin Utterback,” Watson/de Nagy and Company, Houston, Texas

1975 “Robin Utterback: Paintings,” Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, Texas

“Works on Paper: Robin Utterback,” Watson/de Nagy and Company, Houston, Texas

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2005 “Opening Bloom,” Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston, Texas

“TXmas,” Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston, Texas

2004 “Perspectives @ 25: A Quarter Century of New Art in Houston,” Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, Texas

1999 “Five Artists, New Work,” DiverseWorks, Houston, Texas

“Texas Draws,” Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, Texas

1996 “Works on Paper,” Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, Texas

“Proof of Love,” Lynn Goode Gallery, Houston, Texas

“Texas Modern and Post Modern,” Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, Texas

1995 “The Sensual World,” E.M. Donahue Gallery, New York, New York

1993 “Texas Contemporary: Acquisitions of the 90’s,” Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, Texas

1992 “The Improvisational Spirit,” Transco Tower Gallery, Houston, Texas

“Singular and Plural: Recent Accessions of Drawings and Prints 1945-1992,” Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, Texas

“National Drawing Invitational,” Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

1991 “Master Drawings,” Eugene Binder Gallery, Cologne, Germany, in association with Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, Texas

1990 “Texas Art Celebration ‘90,” Cullen Center, Houston, Texas, organized by the Assistance League of Houston

“Some Things I Found in Houston: Selections from the Edward Albee Collection,” Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, Texas

1989 “The Intimate Collage,” The Watson Gallery Houston, Texas

“New American Talent 1989,” Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas, organized by the Texas Fine Arts Association

“Texas Art Celebration ‘89,” Cullen Center, Houston, Texas, organized by the Assistance League of Houston

“Invitational Exhibition,” The Watson Gallery, Houston, Texas

1988 “One + One: Collaborations by Artists and Writers,” The Glassell School of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, January 19-February 21. Catalogue, text by Janet Landay and Donald Barthleme.

“Group Exhibition,” Concordia College, White Plains, New York

“Art Against AIDS,” Decorative Center of Houston, Houston Texas

“Farrell Brickhouse, Melissa Meyer, Nachume Miller, Robin Utterback,” Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York New York

“Drawn from Life: Contemporary Interpretive Landscape,” Sewall Art Gallery, Rice University, Houston, Texas

“The First Triennial 1988,” Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, Texas; Texas

A&M University, College Station, Texas; Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas; Lubbock Fine Arts Center, Lubbock, Texas; San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, Texas; Center for Research in Contemporary Art, Arlington, Texas; Bridge Center for Contemporary Art, El Paso, Texas

“Houston ‘88,” 1600 Smith in Cullen Center, Houston, Texas

“Works on Paper,” G.V.G. Gallery, Houston, Texas

“Works on Paper,” Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York

1987 “Texas Art Celebration ‘87,” Two Houston Center, Houston, Texas

“Abstract Sensibilities Now,” Lawndale Art and Performance Center, Houston, Texas

“From the Object: Still Life Themes and Variations,” The Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, Texas

1985 “Fresh Paint: The Houston School,” Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, Texas; The Institute for Art and Urban Resources, (MoMA PS1), Long Island City, Queens, New York; Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

“Works on Paper: Eleven Houston Artists,” Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, Texas

1984 “Texas Artists in Houston Corporate Collections,” DiverseWorks, Houston, Texas

1983 “New Art from a New City: Houston,” Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria; Galerie an der Stadtmauer, Villach, Austria; Amerika Haus, Berlin, Germany; Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, Texas

“Showdown: Perspectives on the South West,” Alternative Museum, New York, New York; DiverseWorks, Houston, Texas

1982 “Art From Houston in Norway: 1982,” Stavanger Kunstforening, Stavanger, Norway

1981 “Four Painters: Jones, Smith, Stack, Utterback,” Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, Texas

1980 “Houston Area Exhibition,” Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, Houston, Texas

1979 “Fire!,” Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, Texas

1978 “Third Biennial Invitational Exhibition of Texas Artists,” Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, Texas

1977 “1977 Houston Area Exhibition,” Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, Houston, Texas

“Six Painters from Texas,” David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto, Canada

“The Texas Thirty,” The Nave Museum, Victoria, Texas

1976 “American Abstract Art,” Messing Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri

“Second Biennial Invitational Exhibition of Texas Artists,” Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, Texas

“The Philadelphia Houston Exchange,” Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, Texas

1975 “Abstract Painting and Sculpture Today,” The Art Center, Waco, Texas

“1975 Houston Area Exhibition,” Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, Houston, Texas

1974 “Recent Works by Suzanne Manns and Robin Utterback,” Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, Houston, Texas

“Made in Texas: Six Artists Working in Texas,” Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, Texas

“First Biennial Invitational Exhibition of Texas Artists,” Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, Texas

“1974 Houston Area Exhibition,” Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, Houston, Texas

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

The Menil Collection, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX

Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gray, Lisa. “Clues suggest what artist was thinking.” Houston Chronicle, December 30, 2007, Zest 9.

Schulze, Troy. “Remembering Robin.” Houston Press, December 13-19, 2007, p. 32.

“Arts center exhibit honors ‘painter’s painter’ Utterback.” The Daily News [Galveston County, Texas], December 2007, pp. 42-43.

“Remembering Robin Utterback.” The Parrot [Galveston], November 2007, p. 17

Greene, ALison de Lima, et. al. Texas: 150 Works from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2000).

Mitchell, Charles Dee. “Robin Utterback at Donahue/Sosinski.” Art in America, November 1996, p. 117.

Johnson, Patricia C. “Utterback Show Elegant, even Poetic.” Houston Chronicle. March 16, 1995, p. 10 D.

______________. “Discover a Positive Solution.” Houston Chronicle, October 30, 1992, E 1,4.

McBride, Elizabeth. “Robin Utterback in Houston and Galveston.” Museum and Arts Magazine: Houston’s Art Journal, January 1993.

Colpitt, Frances. “On the Scene: Houston.” Artspace, March/April 1993.

Hopwood-Lewis, Steven. “Robin Utterback.” New Art Examiner, March 1993. p.39.

Chadwick, Susan. “Artist Plays with Texture, Space in Intriguing Show.” The Houston Post, February 27, 1995, p. D 8.

______________. “Artists Explore New Worlds.” The Houston Post, October 8, 1992.

______________. “Houston Artist Frees Himself in CAM Exhibit.” The Houston Post, October 28,

1992, pp. D 1,3.

______________. “Local Artist Solos in CAM Exhibit.” The Houston Post, October 18, 1992.

Utterback, Robin. Artist Book for Bayou Book Series #8: Backwards, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, 1992.

Kalil, Susie. “Abstraction Ages: Robin Utterback’s paintings show an art form past youthful radicalism and into elderly caution.” Houston Press, November 12, 1992.

_________. “Houston Artists.” ARTnews, December 1981, p. 106.

_________. “Robin Utterback: Spacial Complexities.” Artweek, September 22, 1979, p. 3.

Levi, Jan Heller. “Robin Utterback, Tibor de Nagy.” ARTnews, September 1990. Pp. 165, 167.

Welish, Marjorie. “Robin Utterback: Tibor de Nagy.” Artscribe International, Summer 1987. Pp. 81-82.

Ashbery. John. “Robin Utterback at Tibor de Nagy.” Art in America, June 1987, p. 152.

Kalil, Susie and Rose, Barbara. Fresh Paint: The Houston School. 1985. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. (Houston, TX) pp. 180-181.

Glueck, Grace. “Art: A ‘Houston School’ Emerges.” The New York Times, May 24, 1985, p. 20.

Schjeldahl, Peter. “Art and Money in the City of the Future-Think: Some Artists.” Houston City Magazine, February 1980, pp. 50-53.

Ennis, Michael. “The Texas Heat.” Texas Monthly, April 1979, pp.170, 173.

Lee, Edwy B. “1977 Houston Area Exhibition.” Art Voices/South, January/February 1978, p. 29.

Crossley, Mimi. “Review: Utterback, Hughto at Watson/deNagy.” The Houston Post, January 2, 1977.

__________. “Review: Paintings by Robin Utterback.” The Houston Post, September 21, 1979, p. 14 E.

“Winning Entry.” Houston Chronicle, April 14, 1987.

“Arts center exhibit honors ‘painter’s painter’ Utterback.’ The Daily News [Galveston County, Texas], November 23, 2007, p. B 12.

“Remembering Robin Utterback.” The Parrot [Galveston], November 2007, p. 17.

“Remembering Robin Utterback continues at the Galveston Arts Center.” The Islander Magazine [Galveston, Texas], December 2007, pp. 42-44.

Robin Utterback died in 2007

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