About me
Robert Taplin is a sculptor working in New Haven CT. His work has been both monumental and miniature. His background is in medieval studies and theater design. Consequently, his work brings the familiar and the strange into somewhat startling proximity.
Taplin was born in 1950 and graduated with a BA from Pomona College in 1973. He began creating artwork in the mid-1970’s and exhibiting soon after. He has received numerous grants and awards for his work, including the National Endowment for the Arts in and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He has written on sculpture for Art in America among other publications and taught graduate and undergraduate programs, most recently at Yale University and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Taplin has been included in exhibits throughout the United States. Solo exhibitions of his work have been presented by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Grounds for Sculpture, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Smack Mellon in Brooklyn, NY, the Ezra and Cecile Zilka Gallery at Wesleyan University, and Winston Wachter Fine Arts, among others. He has executed Public Commissions for the State of Connecticut and the New York MTA.
Solo
2023
Five Points Arts, Torrington, CT, "Outscapes", March 17 - April 22,
2019
University of Richmond Museum, Richmond, VA, "Everything Imagined Is Real (After Dante) and Recent Works" August 23- October 6
2017
Fred Giampietro Gallery, New Haven, CT, "Robert Taplin and John Benicewicz"
2015
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, "Punch"
2012
Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ, "Heaven, Hell, and the History of Punch"
2010
Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield CT, "Selections from the Punch Series, 2005-2010"
2009
Winston Wachter Fine Arts, New York, NY, "Everything Imagined Is Real(After Dante)"
2006
Winston Wachter Fine Arts, New York, NY, "Facts and Fictions"
Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT, "The Five Outer Planets"
Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, IL, "Robert Taplin and Larry Roberts"
2004
Smack Mellon Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, "The Five Outer Planets"
Yellowbird Gallery, Newburgh, NY, "The Five Outer Planets"
2003
Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, "The Five Outer Planets"
2001
Hampden Gallery, University of Massachussetts, Amherst, MA, "Jupiter"
Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA, "The Five Outer Planets"
2000
TransHudson Gallery, New York, NY, "The Five Outer Planets"
1997
TransHudson Gallery, New York, NY
Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1994
Gallery Joe, Philadelphia, PA
1992
Sculpture Center, Gallery II, New York, NY
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY, "Urban Offerings"
1989
Artspace, New Haven, CT, "Sculpture - Five years"
1987
La Mama's Galleria, New York, NY, "Statues"
1982
Berkeley Center Gallery, New Haven, CT, "Horizontal Navigation"
1978
Public Art Fund, NYC, "Welcome to New Haven"
1977
Mayor's Council on the Arts, New Haven, Ct., "Nine Views of New Haven"
Group
2023
Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA, "45 Years"
2022
Maurits Van de Lar Gallery, The Hague, Netherlands, "Hero with a Thousand Faces", April 10 - May 15
2019
MASSMOCA, North Adams, MA, "Suffering From Realness" April 13 - January 15, 2020
2018
Washington Art Association and Gallery, Washington Depot, CT, "Sculpture Walk" and
"Maquette: The Art of the Model"
2017
Kent Gallery, New York, NY, "A Human Condition"
Artspace, New Haven, CT, "Thirty Years"
2015
New York Academy of Art, New York, NY, "Beautiful Beast"
Brian Morris Gallery, New York, NY, "World Without End"
O'Silas Gallery, Concordia College, NY, "Ten Years"
2014
Greenwood Gardens, Short hills, NJ, "Art in Nature"
2013
ArtPark, Lewiston, NY, "ArtPark 40 Years"
2012
Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT, "Aldrich Undercover
Flowers Gallery, New York, NY, "Summer Exhibition"
2011
Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT, "Aldrich Undercover"
2010
Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA "REAL Realism in Diverse media"
New York Academy of Art, New York, NY, "Private (dis)play"
2009
MASSMOCA, North Adams, MA, "These Days: Elegies For Modern Times"
2008
Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA, "Inside The Box"
2007
DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA, "2007 DeCordova Annual"
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, "Connecticut Contemporary"
Winston Wachter Fine Art, New York, NY, "Mockumentaries"
The Arsenal Gallery, Central Park, New York, NY, "40 Years of Public Art In New York City Parks"
Osilas Gallery, Concordia College, NY, "Body and Soul"
ArtSpace, New Haven, CT, "101 Dresses"
Salamagundi Club of New York, "The Beholder's Eye"
2006
Winston Wachter Fine Art, New York, NY, "Please Do Not Touch"
New York Academy of Art, New York, NY, "Salon"
2005
UBS Art Gallery, New York, NY, " Along The Way: MTA Arts for Transit"
Winston Wachter Fine Art, Seattle, WA, "Figuration"
Winston Wachter Fine Art, New York, NY, "Dimensions"
Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, NY, "From The Neck Up"
Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY, "Innocence and Inspiration"
2004
National Academy of Design, New York, NY, "179th Invitational Exhibit"
Winston Wachter Fine Arts, NYC, "The Body Project"
Winston Wachter Fine Arts, Seattle, WA, "Expansion"
2003
New York Academy of Art, New York, NY, "NYAA Faculty Exhibition"
Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY, "Re-presenting Representation"
2001
Palm Beach ICA, Lake Worth, FL, "Sculpture Now"
2000
Winston Wachter Mayer, New York, NY "Maquettes, Models & Muses"
1999
Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT, "The Nude in Contemporary Art"
TransHudson Gallery, NYC, "Portraits"
1998
Gallery Joe, Philadelphia, PA, "Intimate Objects"
1997
The Art Exchange Show / TransHudson Gallery, New York, NY
1996
Beacon Hill Fine Arts, New York, NY, "Politics - American Style"
Lukacs Gallery, Fairfield Univ., Fairfield, CT, "Body Apart"
1995
TZ' Art & Co., New York, NY, "Bodies/Transformations"
Trans Hudson Gallery, Jersey City, NJ, "Inspiration," and "Presence/Absence"
Gallery Joe, Philadelphia, PA, "A Good Likeness"
1994
Proctor Art Center, Bard College, Annandale on Hudson, NY, "Embody"
Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, CT, "Reflections of an Inner Light"
Paine Webber Gallery, New York, NY, and The Stoney Brook Museum Stoney Brook, NY, "Art En Route"
1993
Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY, "Figurines!"
1992
Tartt Gallery, Washington D.C., "Family Matters"
Scheele Fine Arts, Cleveland, OH, "Ch'ien - The Creative Spirit"
1991
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY, "Chords and Discords"
1989
Washington Sq. East Galleries, NYC, "Small Works" (and 1987)
1988
Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA, "Sculpture 88"
1987
Luise Ross Gallery, NYC, "Drawings"
Erector Sq. Gallery, New Haven, CT, "Robert Taplin and Margaret Plaganis"
1984
P.S 122, NYC, "Phantom Hero"
Cheltenham Art Center, Philadelphia, PA, "Sculpture 84"
1983
Pratt Institute Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, "Bridges"
Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA, "Interim I"
1982
Doris C. Freedman Gallery, NYC, "Ten Years of Public Art"
1981
Artpark, Lewiston, NY
1979
AREA, Ward's Island, NYC
- Maeconnish, Denise, "Suffering From Realness" (catalogue), MASSMOCA / Delmonico Books / Prestel
- Cassidy, Benjamin, "Suffering from Realness Makes You Question What id Real", The Bershire Eagle, April 15, 2019
- Okamura, Sarah, "A Wake-up Call at MASSMOCA", The Greylock Glass, May 6, 2019
- Abbott, Kate, "Suffering from Realness at MASSMOCA", BTW Berkshires, August 19, 2019
- Crimmins, Peter, "Sculpture above Academy of the Fine Arts entrance packs a Punch", Newsworks, March 16, 2015
- Salisbury, Stephan, "PAFA puts up Punch", Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan 26, 2015
- Wilkin, Karen, "A Meeting of Past and Present", Wall Street Journal, Jan 21, 2013
- Aubrey, Dan, "Robert Taplin on Heaven and Hell, Dante and Italy", U.S. 1, January 9, 2013
- Purcell, Janet, "Planets, Purgatory and Punch", The Times NJ, November 2, 2012
- Shellenberger, Shen, "Exotic Eerie Sculpture By Robert Taplin At Grounds", Jersey Arts, October 30, 2012
- Wilkin, Karen, "Robert Taplin - Recent Narratives", Sculpture Magazine, October, 2010
- Kobasa, Stephen, "Robert Taplin: Surprise of the Thing", Arts New England, November, 2010
- Healy, Pat, "Distance makes the art grow fonder", Metro.US, January 21, 2010
- Smee, Sebastien, "Mournful Reflections", Boston Globe, April 18, 2009
- Harvey, Michael, "Robert Taplin at Winston Wachter", Art in America, April, 2009
- McQuaid, Cate, "Galleries", Boston Globe, January 17, 2008
- Johnson, Ken, "Punch, potato scientists, and Sodmonsters at DeCordova", Boston Globe May 18, 2007
- Genocchio, Ben, "A Contemporary showcase At Wadsworth Atheneum", New York Times, June 3, 2007
- Fels, Sophie, "Mockumentaries", Time Out New York, September 6, 2007
- Griggs, Brandon, "Cosmos with a human face", The Salt Lake Tribune, October 22, 2006
- Bloodworth, Sandra, "Along The Way, MTA Arts For Transit", Monacelli Press, 2006
- Wilkin, Karen, "At the Galleries", Hudson Review, Summer 2006
- Nadelman, Cynthia, "Middle-Aged Gods and Giant Babies", ArtNews, December,2004
- Kernan, Nathan, "Robert Taplin at Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University", Art in America. September, 2004
- Wilkin, Karen, "Robert Taplin / The Five Outer Planets", catalogue, Wesleyan University
- Johnson, Ken, "The 179th Annual, National Academy of Design", New York Times May 14, 2004
- Rosoff, Patricia, "Robert Taplin", Sculpture Magazine, October, 2004
- Rosoff, Patricia, "The Lives of the Gods at Wesleyan", Hartford Advocate, February 19, 2004
- Schwan, Gary, "Sculpture tackles any subject in any way", Palm Beach Post, July 7, 2002
- Csaszar, Tom, "Robert Taplin at Transhudson", Sculpture Magazine, March 2001
- Princenthahl, Nancy, "Robert Taplin" Art in America, September 2000
- Wilkin, Karen, "At the Galleries", Partisan Review, Summer, 2000
- Csaszar, Tom, "Varieties of Naked Experience", New Art Examiner, October 1999
- Princenthal, Nancy, "Robert Taplin", Art in America, March 1998
- Perl, Jed, "Death and Realism", The New Republic, April 20, 1998
- Melrod, George, "You Are Here", Art & Antiques, October 1997
- Murdock, Robert, "Robert Taplin", Review, November, 1997
- Seidel, Miriam, "Robert Taplin", Art in America, January 1995
- Brenson, Michael, "Sculpture Goes Outdoors For Summer", New York Times, July 13, 1984
- Zimmer, William, "New London Exhibitions Explore the Fundamentals", New York Times October 17. 1993
- Langdon, Ann, "Robert Taplin: Sculpture", Art New England, February 19, 1990
- Olderman, Maxine, "Sculptor Explores the Human Mystery", New Haven Register, November 12, 1989
- Kirby, Sam, "Gender Benders", New Haven Advocate, November 16, 1987
- Priest, Ellen, "Robert Taplin", Art in America, May 1983
- Lifson, Ben, "Voice Choices", Village Voice, October 2, 1978
- Von Ranson, Brooks, "Peep Shows are Back", Connecticut Magazine, September, 1977
- Dunning, Jennifer, "In New Haven Art's just around the corner", New York Times September 23, 1977
- 2003 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in Sculpture
- 1988 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Sculpture
- 1977 Connecticut Commission on the Arts, Individual Artist Fellowship in Sculpture
- Housatonic Museum, Bridgeport, CT
- Harnett Museum , University of Richmond, Richmond, VA
- Yale University Art Gallery, New haven, CT
- Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
- DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA
- New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
- Benton Museum of Art, Claremont, CA
- 2015 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Sculpture on the Plinth Program
- 2011 Aldrich Contemporary Art museum, Art on Main
- 1998 State of Connecticut Percent for the Arts, State police Barracks, Tolland, CT
- 1996 New York MTA Arts for transit, Cortlandt Station, Haarlem Hudson Line, NY
- 1982 State of Connecticut percent for the Arts, Regional Center for the Handicapped, Meriden, CT