Mark making has been a foundational part of who I am since my earliest memories as a child growing up in Southern California — coloring with Crayola crayons and using (and smelling) the “smelly” marker pens in grade school art classes throughout the 1970s. That grew into drawing, photography (and yearbook), and painting classes across the 1980s, including a summer session at Phillips Academy Andover, a painting/drawing class in the mid-1980s, and a summer session at RISD in the late 1980s. I graduated from UC Davis in 1989 with a double major in Art History and Studio Art, and spent the early 1990s as a practicing painter, with juried shows and commercial success.

Also in the early 1990s, I took a three-month, cross-country solo driving trip that ultimately led me to move to the East Coast. Along the way, I made a point of visiting the permanent collections of more than 30 museums in cities large and small across the country — seeing firsthand art I’d previously known only through reproduction, while gaining a deep appreciation for the vastness of the American landscape and a real respect and admiration for the people and places of the contiguous 48.

In the late 2000s, I took a painting class at the Corcoran School of Art (now closed) to test my facility, and kept up a smattering of sketching, photographing, and doodling through the 2000s, 2010s, and into the 2020s.

And now, in 2026: the launch of Robert G. Burrows Art — a deliberate, conscious rededication to my artistic capacities and capabilities. Working out of my home studio (the garage), I look forward to sharing my work, both past and what I continue to create, across different media, subject matter, and scales. It’s a body of work that reflects my individual approach to mark making and, in turn, who I am and how I see the world — its people, objects, and landscapes.

Enjoy.