About

I create in the narrative arts, painting, drawing, and writing. My art explores themes ranging from the encyclopedia of nature, the intricate artistry of the human form, and our precarious relationship with attention technologies.

My work reflects a mingling of geographies, from the East Coast to the West Coast, shaped by the diverse landscapes and cultures I have lived in. I was born in New York City and moved to Santa Barbara on my 21st birthday. Since then, I have spent most of my life painting in Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley, with intervening years on Colorado’s Front Range and in Pennsylvania’s Brandywine Valley. The distinct light and colors of these places continue to appear in my paintings and writings, shaping my creative voice.

Painting and writing are solitary experiences. Sharing my finished works creates new connections and perspectives. I enjoy listening to what others see, feel, and experience in my paintings. I call that phase Creative Ecology.

I began my artistic studies focusing on drawing and painting the figure. Prints of Renaissance drawings by Verrocchio (Leonardo's teacher) and Raphael on our NYC living room wall were some of my first artistic influences. I painted solely in a realist style for many years. Initially self-taught, I later supplemented my studies with figure drawing and artistic anatomy classes at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, as well as portrait painting and portrait sculpture courses at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In recent years, my work is an improvised mixture of stylized realism, conceptual imagery, and abstract color design.

I work primarily in oil and acrylic paint. Some of the painting series include three-dimensional objects encased within the painting surface. Elements from the natural world appear, especially from my vegetable, flower, and herb garden. The color-rich organic elements from my garden reunite with earth-minerals ground into various paint pigments.

One of my current painting series incorporates mass-produced design materials from the pre-digital era of graphic design. It is my way of keeping alive tools that still function as well as they did before design became a digital experience. I worked for several decades as a book, poster, and publications designer. In many of my paintings, the graphic designer’s eye collaborates with the painter’s eye.

I believe that creativity is as essential as breathing—one of the purest ways to observe life, experience relationships, and fuel our imagination. Creativity or destruction, pick one!

Some days in the studio, I feel like an investigative journalist, visualizing the invisible forces that shape our lives. On other days, the brushstrokes and movement of paint feel free from observation and intention. In those moments, I improvise like a musician, searching for a painted melody that both expands and complements reality.

Robert Gerson

California, 2026