Exhibitions
Robert Colescott (1925–2009)
Artistry and Reality: A Piece of Cake, 1982
Acrylic on canvas
16-1/2 x 19 x 1-1/4 inches
Courtesy of The Robert H. Colescott Family
© 2025 The Robert H. Colescott Separate Property Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
This year marks the centennial of the birth of esteemed artist Robert Colescott. In 2025, TAM also celebrates the opening of the permanent space for The Current, An Artist Award. With this convergence, The Current presents The One-Two Punch: 100 Years of Robert Colescott. This monographic exhibition celebrates the timeless work of Colescott, examining his deeply critical art practice and the stylistic transformations across his career.
“But when I get my work up in a gallery, you see this room full of big, sensuous paintings. It’s the first impact that people get. They walk in and say, ‘Oh wow!’ and then, ‘Oh shit!’ when they see what they have to deal with in subject matter. It’s an integrated ‘one-two punch’; it gets them every time.”
—Robert Colescott
The One-Two Punch: 100 Years of Robert Colescott, delves into Colescott’s approach to the figure, looking at the developments of his artistic evolution with a special focus on a provocative and satirical cartoon style he described as “cartoonist-exaggeration.” Significantly, the exhibition explores Colescott’s complicated relationship with race over the course of his lifetime and how it influenced his one-two punch strategy and the works shown. Also featured in the exhibition are some of Colescott’s lesser-seen works that demonstrate his love of process as reflected in his stylistic transformations throughout his oeuvre. The One-Two Punch: 100 Years of Robert Colescott foregrounds Colescott’s deep commitment to his studio practice and desire to constantly reinvent himself through his work, as art was a soul-searching endeavor for Colescott.
A master provocateur, Colescott’s language is one of surprises, contradictions, stereotypes, and desire. He employed subversive techniques and injected a glaring satire into his imagery, which borrows from sources as disparate as children’s fairytales, art history, and pop culture references. Known for his cunning ability to expose the absurdities of the American landscape in his compositions, the exhibition explores themes of race, sex, art history and personal subject matter that Colescott probed throughout his career; challenging viewers to confront their own prejudices and thoughts about humanity.
With this presentation, The Current, An Artist Award celebrates Colescott’s lasting impact on Black visual culture as he continues to influence new generations of Black artists to pave their own ways forward.
You might laugh. But remember, the humor is bait.
Organized by Tacoma Art Museum and curated by Victoria Miles.
Support for this exhibition is in part by:
The Windrose Fund of Common Council Foundation
Tacoma Art Museum members
