NEW YORK, NY.- Gladstone Gallery announces global representation of Robert Colescott, the bold, satirical painter dedicated to revealing the complexities, contradictions and shortfalls of American social political history. The announcement coincides with the artist’s centennial this year, marked by a major solo exhibition at the Tacoma Art Museum opening this December. A solo exhibition at Gladstone is planned for 2026 in New York, reflecting the gallery’s ongoing stewardship of the legacies of pivotal historical artists.

Robert Colescott’s nearly six-decade career included his landmark solo exhibition at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997, where he was the first Black artist to represent the United States in a solo exhibition. He is best known for his smart, gestural, and high-keyed large-scale, chromatic canvases in which he inserted racial stereotypes into cartoon versions of famous art historical works to point to the exclusion of Black people from dominant historical narratives. Fusing high culture with vernacular traditions, including folk art, pulp fiction, and comics, Colescott offered unprecedented ways to both illustrate and combat the stereotypes that fueled racist thought. His large and varied oeuvre reflects his career-spanning search for new ideas, influences, and directions in his work. As a master of figurative painting whose work interrogates notions of identity, Colescott has been the standard-bearer for artists of color of subsequent generations to claim their rightful place in art history.

“Colescott’s enlightened work is more relevant than ever during this challenging time in history,” said Max Falkenstein, Gladstone’s Senior Partner. “We are deeply motivated to ensure that Colescott’s legacy is continually recognized, examined, and celebrated in the United States and around the world. He was truly a pioneer, and his radical vision is perfectly aligned with the artists we work with — fearless, disruptive, and instrumental in shaping the course of contemporary art.”