Robert Pruitt was born in Houston, Texas, in 1975. He received his BFA from Texas Southern University and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin. Pruitt produces drawings, film, sculptures, and installations that draw on his dichotomous experiences working in the contemporary art world and living in the African American community. With stark wit and powerful juxtapositions, his work illuminates the construction of cultural identity and elements of shared experience.

Pruitt's work has been exhibited in the 2005 group exhibition Frequency at the Studio Museum in Harlem; in a solo exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston in 2006; and in the 2006 Whitney Biennial.