Robert Moore

In an interview with Southwest Art Magazine Robert Moore said, “I realized I wanted to be like a farmer. I wanted to work outdoors and have a direct relationship between what I did and a harvest, but I didn’t want to be on a tractor. So I thought maybe I could be out in the mountains painting, and then sell my paintings. It was a romantic dream but I was passionate enough to follow that dream.”

We are all fortunate recipients of Robert's dedication to his passion. Born in Burley, Idaho in 1957, Robert has been painting and selling his art for more than 40 years now. He began his higher education practically, with a degree in art teaching credentials. He ended it where he intended, with a full scholarship to The Art Center College of Design in California, where he graduated with honors and a BFA in Illustration.

The world as Robert perceives it consists entirely of blues and yellows. One would never guess as they become lost in the dazzling colors of Robert's canvases that Robert is colorblind. As a result, he paints in values, contrasting colors into a surprising and harmonious array of aspens, rivers and mountains. A great deal of attention is paid to the mix of dark and light colors he chooses to use in each painting.

Robert says, “It’s like with a song — what’s important is not so much which key you’re in but the relationship between notes. You can start with any color as a ‘tonic chord,’ and as long as you keep those colors in a certain relationship with each other, it still feels like natural color.” A fun fact: Robert always paints with an assistant; someone to lay out the colors on his palette in a precise and pre-determined order so he knows exactly what color he is reaching for. Yes, people have messed with him in the past and had quite a blast watching him paint with random colors!

Robert focuses a great deal on surface textures. His tools vary from fingers to brushes, palette knives, trowels, rags, squeegees, large house-painting brushes, and a secret kitchen-spatula. Every Robert Moore painting is lush with sculpted and carved oil paints. One can easily mesmerize themselves studying the wide variety of brushstrokes and styles within each of his paintings. Robert is an artist that has found his brushstroke. Despite working in what is likely the most well-known and highly regarded art style in history, it is easy to distinguish Robert's paintings from both his contemporaries and predecessors in the impressionist movement. Paying attention to the ways in which he has applied his paints keys you in. To see his take on our incredible western landscapes is a blessing.

Another fun fact about Robert's approach to painting: he paints with both hands. Simultaneously. While getting ready for one of his early solo exhibitions Robert broke his left, dominant, wrist. He is a quiet, stoic, and determined individual. Not being willing to give up on his dream, Robert quickly taught himself how to paint right-handed. He compares the process of painting two parts of the canvas at once with a brush or palette knife in each hand, to dancing or boxing. We think it makes him look like an artistic ninja, wondrously displaying a massive amount of control and talent as he adds more beauty to the world.