Dario Robleto
Encyclopedia
Dario Robleto is an American conceptual artist who lives and works in Houston, Texas. Robleto received his BFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1997 and has subsequently served as an artist in residence at several institutions including the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia and Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles. He is currently represented by D’Amelio Terras in New York, ACME in Los Angeles and Inman Gallery in Houston.
Robleto employs a variety of media in his artworks, creating intricately handcrafted objects that reflect his passionate exploration of music, popular culture, science, war and American history. Most often incorporating everyday, found objects, Robleto transforms artifacts from a vast inventory of our collective past into delicately layered objects that are sincere and personal meditations on love, death, spirituality and healing. A great appreciator of hip-hop music and DJ culture, Robleto views his work as a mixtape or sampling of humanity, recycling old items and reconstructing them into new artistic forms, as a means to viewing the future through the past.
In 2008, The Frye Museum of Art in Seattle concurrently displayed two installations dedicated to the artist’s work. Heaven is Being a Memory to Others, a site-specific installation, combined new sculptural works by Robleto alongside his selection of paintings from the Frye’s collection. The show, which marked the completion of his 2007 residency with the Museum, was presented in conjunction with Alloy of Love, a ten-year survey of the artist’s work. Following its installation at The Frye, Alloy of Love traveled to the Francis Young Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY.
Robleto has also held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (2010); The Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina (2006); The Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria, New York (2003); The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2003); and the Contemporary Art Museum Houston (2001). His artworks were also featured on the album design of Yo La Tengo
’s 2009 album, Popular Songs.
Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Le Centre d’Art Contemporain, Montpellier, France
Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio Texas
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC
San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX
Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Spectacular of Vernacular, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (2011)
Alloy of Love, Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY (2008)
The Old, Weird America: Folk Themes in Contemporary Art, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX (2008)
Human/Nature: Artists Respond to a Changing Planet, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (2008)
Chrysanthemum Anthems, The Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC (2007)
Robleto employs a variety of media in his artworks, creating intricately handcrafted objects that reflect his passionate exploration of music, popular culture, science, war and American history. Most often incorporating everyday, found objects, Robleto transforms artifacts from a vast inventory of our collective past into delicately layered objects that are sincere and personal meditations on love, death, spirituality and healing. A great appreciator of hip-hop music and DJ culture, Robleto views his work as a mixtape or sampling of humanity, recycling old items and reconstructing them into new artistic forms, as a means to viewing the future through the past.
In 2008, The Frye Museum of Art in Seattle concurrently displayed two installations dedicated to the artist’s work. Heaven is Being a Memory to Others, a site-specific installation, combined new sculptural works by Robleto alongside his selection of paintings from the Frye’s collection. The show, which marked the completion of his 2007 residency with the Museum, was presented in conjunction with Alloy of Love, a ten-year survey of the artist’s work. Following its installation at The Frye, Alloy of Love traveled to the Francis Young Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY.
Robleto has also held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (2010); The Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina (2006); The Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria, New York (2003); The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2003); and the Contemporary Art Museum Houston (2001). His artworks were also featured on the album design of Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...
’s 2009 album, Popular Songs.
Public Collections
Altoids Curiously Strong Collection/New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NYAustin Museum of Art, Austin, TX
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Le Centre d’Art Contemporain, Montpellier, France
Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio Texas
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC
San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX
Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Catalogues
An Instinct Toward Life, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (2011)Spectacular of Vernacular, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (2011)
Alloy of Love, Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY (2008)
The Old, Weird America: Folk Themes in Contemporary Art, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX (2008)
Human/Nature: Artists Respond to a Changing Planet, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (2008)
Chrysanthemum Anthems, The Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC (2007)