ARTIST STATEMENT
Early in my career the 'downtown' experience inspired deconstructivist methods for creating art. People were using found objects and other non-traditional materials in their work, tearing things apart and reconstructing them, processes that harmonized with the reality of the Cass Corridor in the 60s and 70s, and in fact still does today. This period had a profound influence on my approach to art that is particularly apparent in my sculptural work.
I began to investigate the influence of our surroundings on our daily lives in my work. I still spend a lot of time shifting between reality and abstraction looking for 'missing links' to expand this allegorical construct of conjoined figure/environment/abstraction.
For my sculptures, I use positive cuts for the figure (a silhouette representing Man) and negative cuts to express architecture (environmental space and its baggage). Welded metal works for this, takes me physically and spatially into the metaphor ... making different objects connect ... that's why I like welding. There's also a specific kind of permanency that comes with the way welded steel withstands the elements, giving extended life to the work.
Painting is about the edges, surface, content and theory. It's like a reflection of one's soul. A good painting will hold your attention for some mysterious reason. I keep painting for more than enjoyment. It's my way of seeing. It's my life.
Purity is only relevant to the environment in which it exists.
Selected Exhibitions:
2023
Tales of Geometry Preview, Documentary Film Screening, Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI
Biennial Sculpture Invitational, Box Factory, Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI
Cass Corridor Review, Group show Matéria Gallery, Detroit, MI
2022
Space & Time, Solo show at Simone DeSousa Gallery, Detroit, MI
Portraits of Jack, Cass Cafe, Detroit, MI
2021
Dual Visions, Group Show, Museum of Contemporary Are, Detroit, MI
2020
Solo show at Simone DeSousa Gallery, Detroit, MI
Robert Sestok’s Cass Corridor Art Review Presentation, Cranbrook, Detroit, MI
Boardman Lake Trail Installation Sculpture, Traverse City, MI
Moross Greenway Project, Detroit, MI
2019
Robert Sestok’s Cass Corridor Art Review Presentation, MOCAD, Detroit, MI
Robert Sestok’s Cass Corridor Art Review Presentation, Scarab Club, Detroit, MI
The Idea of Detroit, Arnold’s Gallery, Detroit, MI
2018
Off the Press, Simone DeSousa Gallery, Detroit, MI
Murals in the Market, 1xRUN Gallery, Detroit, MI
BIG Highland Park Art Show, 333 Midland, Highland Park, MI
Regional Biennial Juried Sculpture Exhibition, Marshall Fredericks Museum, Saginaw, MI
2017
Third Man Records, Installation Mural, Detroit, MI
99 Cents, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), Detroit, MI
37th Annual Art of Wine, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI
2016
BIG Sculpture, 333 Midland, Highland Park, MI
Cosmologies, College for Creative Studies, Center Galleries, Detroit, MI
Turbulent Years, Hannan House, Detroit, MI
2015
Inaugural Opening of City Sculpture Park, Detroit, MI
2014
Big Paintings, The Factory, Highland Park, MI
Detroit Revisited, Marianne Boesky + Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY
Detroit Print City, Ocelot Collective, Detroit, MI
Scrap, Welding Symposium, Detroit, MI
2013
Static, Cave Gallery, Detroit, MI
2012
Menage a Detroit, N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI
60 Year Anniversary of Detroit Artist Market, Detroit Historical Museum, Detroit, MI
First Street Iron, First Street Park, New York, NY
Big Show, Detroit Artists Market, Detroit, MI
Uncovered, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY
Verses, College for Creative Studies, Center Galleries, Detroit, MI
2011
Gift of a Lifetime – James P. Duffy Collection, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Wayne State University Art Collection, The Detroit Athletic Club, Detroit, MI
2010
Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Sculpture Expo, Tecumseh, MI
Art Prize, Grand Rapids, MI
Re:Collect, Simone DeSousa Gallery, Detroit, MI
2009
Art Prize, Grand Rapids, MI
Actual Size Preamble, Contemporary Art Institute, Detroit, MI
Re:Collect, Simone DeSousa Gallery, Detroit, MI
Din A4 International Drawing Project, Malaga, Spain
Seeds, Yes Farm, Detroit, MI
Time and Place, Wayne State University, Elaine Jacob Gallery, Detroit, MI
2008
In, On and Through, Johanson Charles Gallery, Detroit, MI
Outdoor Sculpture, Ella Sharp Museum, Jackson, MI
Robert Sestok and Steve Canaday, Alley Culture Gallery, Detroit, MI
2007
Re‐Opening, Assemblage, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Timeline, Dell Pryor Gallery, Detroit, MI
Anti‐War Show, Treadwell Museum of Art, Treadwell, NY
Guns: Not for Killers but Collectors, Tangent Gallery, Detroit, MI
2006
Corridor Rabble, Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn, MI
In There, Out There, Recent Work by Robert Sestok, Ellen Kayrod Gallery, Detroit, MI
CCS At 100: Alumni Sampler, College for Creative Studies, Center Galleries, Detroit, MI
Top to Bottom, Zeitgeist Gallery, Detroit, MI
2005
AIDS Benefit, Masonic Temple, Detroit, MI
2004
Blissfield Corridor, Outdoor Sculpture Show, Blissfield, MI
2003
Heads, Zeitgeist Gallery, Detroit, MI
Event Horizon, Alley Culture Benefit, Detroit, MI
AIDS Benefit, Ford House, Grosse Pointe, MI
2002
9‐11, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY
Unknown Spaces, Spaces Unknown, 4731 Gallery, Detroit, MI
2001
Up From the Streets, Wayne State University, Elaine Jacobs Gallery, Detroit, MI
2000
The Tsagaris/Hilberry Collection: A Sustaining Passion, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
1999
Millenium Countdown, Johanson Charles Gallery, Detroit, MI
Sculpture, Detroit Contemporary, Detroit, MI
1998
Confetti, Alley Culture, Detroit, MI
Robert Sestok, Museum of Lithuanian Culture, Chicago, IL
Suitcase Show, Conductors Hallway, London, England
1997
Art + Suitcase: Will Travel, Shoestring, Jersey City, NJ
Sculpture Pontiac, Pontiac Art Center, Pontiac, MI
Godesses, College for Creative Studies, Center Galleries, Detroit, MI
1993
To Be, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY
Installation, Lookout Sculpture Park, Damascus, PA
1992
Robert Sestok and Paul Schwartz, Feigenson/Preston Gallery, Detroit, MI
Drawings, College for Creative Studies, Center Galleries, Detroit, MI
1991
Heads, B4A Gallery, New York, NY
Sculpture in the East Village, The Vacuum Gallery, New York, NY
Sculpture X Seven, Kuiturorum im Bis, Monchen Gladback, Germany
Robert Sestok: Works on Paper, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY
Brooklyn Waterfront Exhibition, Brooklyn, NY
1990
Brooklyn Waterfront Exhibition, Brooklyn, NY
1989
Earth Remembered, Hook Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Robert Sestok, Feigenson/Preston Gallery, Birmingham, MI
1987
Lawndale Art and Performance Center, University of Houston, Houston, TX
New Territories: Five Artists-in-Residence, Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, MI
1986
New Sculpture, Therefore Art, 510 Broadway, New York, NY
Michigan NEA Fellowships 1965-85, Detroit Focus Gallery, Detroit, MI
Brooklyn Waterfront Exhibition, Brooklyn, NY
1985
Sculpture Chicago, Chicago, IL
1984
From Detroit 1984, Feigenson Gallery, Detroit, MI
1983
Four Detroit Artists, Saginaw Art Museum, Saginaw, MI
Four Statements, Willis Gallery, Detroit, MI
1982
Chatelain, Egner, Luchs, Newton, Sestok, Cranbrook Museum of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Kick Out The Jams: Detroit’s Cass Corridor 1963-1977, Museum Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Robert Sestok, Feigenson/Rosenstein Gallery, Detroit, MI
Guts, Herron School of Art, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN
1980
Kick Out The Jams: Detroit’s Cass Corridor 1963-1977, Detroit Institute of Arts
From Detroit 1980, Feigenson Gallery, Detroit, MI
1979
21 Artists, Cranbrook Museum of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Robert Sestok, Feigenson/Rosenstein Gallery, Detroit, MI
Willis Revisited, Willis Gallery, Detroit, MI
1978
Robert Sestok, Feigenson/Rosenstein Gallery, Detroit, MI
1977
Robert Sestok, Feigenson/Rosenstein Gallery, Detroit, MI
1975
Detroit Artist Invitational, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
1974
All Michigan II, Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
Forsythe Saga, Forsythe Building, Detroit, MI
1973
Robert Sestok, Willis Gallery, Detroit, MI
1970
Michigan Artist/Craftsman Exhibition, Detroit Institute of Arts
1969
Michigan Artist/Craftsman Exhibition, Detroit Institute of Arts
Awards + Grants:
2020
AXD Kresge Creative Many Grant
2017
Kresge Fellowship Year & Individual Artist Grant
2010
Erb Foundation Grant
1987
The Pollock‐Krasner Foundation Grantee
1986
Artist in Residence, Pewabic Pottery, Michigan Council for the Arts (Detroit, MI)
1985
National Endowment for the Arts, Sculptor Award
Whirlpool Sculpture Competition, Sculpture Award
1984
Michigan Foundation for the Arts, Individual Artist Grant
1977
Purchase Prize, Michigan Sculpture 77, Macomb Community College
1968
Haystack School of Crafts Study Grant
Ford Foundation Scholarship in Ceramics
Selected Publications/Media:
2023
Maurielle Lue, ”Tales of Geometry: Documentary on the Cass Corridor Art Movement in Detroit”, Fox 2 News, November 10
Ryan Patrick Hooper “Evening Chat with Robert Sestok,” WDET Culture Shift, November 13
2017
99 Cents Book Review, MOCAD
Essay'd, Survey of Detroit Artists, Wayne State Press
2015
Robert Sestok, Selected Works: 2004 - 2014
2014
The Lively Soul of a Decaying City, Detroit Artists at Marianne Boesky and Marlborough Chelsea Galleries The New York Times, Randy Kennedy
We Almost Lost Detroit, Profile of Robert Sestok, Dazed, Michael Avedon
Canvas Detroit, by Julie Pincus & Annabel Cohen, Wayne State Press
2013
Subverting Modernism: Cass Corridor Revisited 1966-1980, Julia R. Myers
Artist and Workers, Mousse Magazine #40, Julian Myers‐Szupinka
2005
Robert Sestok, Selected Works: 1967 - 2004
2001
Up From The Streets, Detroit Art from the Duffy Warehouse Collection, Wayne State University Press
1989
Artists in Michigan: 1900-1976, Wayne State University Press in association with the Smithsonian Institution
1980
Kick Out The Jams: Detroit’s Cass Corridor 1963-1977, Detroit Institute of Arts
Education:
College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI (1965‐1969)
Haystack School of Crafts, Stonington, ME (1968‐1970)
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI (1970)
Pilchuck Summer Glass Blowing Workshop, Stanwood, WA (1971)
Selected Collections:
Detroit Institute of Arts
University of Michigan
Wayne State University
Eastern Michigan University
Macomb Community College