Rob Pruitt Has a Different Approach to Counting Down the Days

303 Gallery in New York has unveiled an extensive new exhibition by Rob Pruitt, titled “These Are the Days of Our Lives.” Consisting of five bodies of work, much of the art developed in response to the Trump presidency and the COVID pandemic.

Initially, viewers are drawn in by a series of calendar paintings that contain unique art and typographic messages within each date box. This project started back in 2014, when the artist used to scribble inside jokes, lists and deadlines in his Massimo Vignelli Stendig calendars. Fast forward to the present and the calendar itself became a central focus in the artist’s practice — from silkscreening the calendar surface onto canvas and transcribing his thoughts on the final days of the Trump presidency, to recording personal events in the artist’s life and his grappling of the COVID pandemic.

The exhibition continues with a series of cut-out mask paintings, which serve as a stark contrast to the previous body, along with gradient artworks that reference photographs Pruitt took of the California desert at the end of 2020 — another nod to the Twilight of Trump’s presidency.

Further on into the show and the artist revisits his eccentric Panda paintings, inferring the artist’s longing for closeness in a time where isolation has become the norm. Lastly, Pruitt has created a new series entitled the Home paintings, which alludes to consumption and the accumulation of things. This body of work references his own mother’s dementia and the surplus of items she had kept over the years. Pruitt layers each brushstroke as if they were items — serving as a metaphor for the fear of loss when it comes to control, memory and life.

“These Are the Days of Our Lives” is on view until October 30.

Also in the news, Sharona Franklin presents her first exhibition at LambdaLambdaLambda.