“Notorious Act: at play,” 2021

“Notorious Act: at play,” 2021

“Let's not give up,” 2020

“Let's not give up,” 2020

“False start,” 2020

“False start,” 2020

“Good Trouble,” 2020

“Good Trouble,” 2020

“La'Condrea is a noun La'Condrea is a noun,” 2020

“La'Condrea is a noun La'Condrea is a noun,” 2020

“I See You (RR),” 2019

“I See You (RR),” 2019

“Between them,” 2019

“Between them,” 2019

“Portraits: When they look back (No. 4),” 2020

“Portraits: When they look back (No. 4),” 2020

“Our destinies are bound,” 2018

“Our destinies are bound,” 2018

“From feet to wings (Nessun Dorma Series),” 2018

“From feet to wings (Nessun Dorma Series),” 2018

I do solemnly swear (Nessun Dorma Series), 2018

I do solemnly swear (Nessun Dorma Series), 2018

“trumpet of consciousness,” 2019

“trumpet of consciousness,” 2019

1962
Born in Austin, TX
Lives and works in Austin, TX
MFA, Syracuse University Research Fellow, Syracuse, NY
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Pont Aven School of Contemporary Art, (Summer Session) Pont Aven, France
University of North Texas, Denton, TX
2023
"walk in my shoes," SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM (forthcoming)
2022
"Deborah Roberts: I have something to tell you," Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
"Deborah Roberts: I'm," Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Jacksonville, FL
"Deborah Roberts: I'm," Art + Practice, in collaboration with the California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2021 – 2022
"A look inside," Bluecoat, Liverpool, England
2021
"O' Say Can't You See," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
"Deborah Roberts: I'm," The Contemporary Austin, Austin, TX
2019
"Deborah Roberts: If They Come," Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
"Native Sons: Many Thousands Gone," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
2018
"Fragile but Fixable," Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
"Uninterrupted," Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
"Deborah Roberts: The Evolution of Mimi," Spelman Museum, Atlanta, GA
2017
"Ingenue," Fort Gansevoort Gallery, New York, NY
"Nobody’s Darling: New Works by Deborah Roberts," Christian-Green Gallery, Austin, TX
2016
"Coil, Coarse, Twist, Re-twist," Art Palace, Houston, TX
2014
"One and Many," Art Palace, Houston, TX
"Domestic Disturbance," Diverse Art Gallery, Austin, TX
"Consensual Marks," SDCC, Dallas, TX
2013
"When We Just Existed," Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse, NY
2011
"Resistance Begins at Home: Rethinking Otherness," Dallas, TX
2008
"Forks and Spoons," South Dallas Culture Center, Dallas, TX
2006
"Bearing Witness," Stone Metal Press, San Antonio, TX
"Reconstructing, Rethinking, Reacting," O’Kane Gallery, Houston, TX
2004
Chicago Culture Center (South Shore) Chicago, Ill
Center for African & African American Studies, Austin, TX
2023
"Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage ," Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (forthcoming)
"Deborah Roberts and Niki de Saint Phalle: The Conversation Continues," Galerie Mitterand, Paris, France
2022 – 2023
"Put It This Way: (Re)Visions Of The Hirshhorn Collection," Hishhorn Museum, Washington D.C.
"True Believers: Benny Andrews & Deborah Roberts," McNay Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX
"To Begin Again: Artists and Childhood," Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
2022
"51 @ 51," Rennie Museum, Vancouver, Canada
"Women Painting Women," The Modern, Fort Worth, TX
"From Near and Far: Collage and Figuration in the Contemporary Age," Co curated by Deborah Roberts, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London UK
"Rituals of Resilience," Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
2021 – 2022
"Assembly: New Acquisitions by Contemporary Black Artists," Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX
2021
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
"The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse," Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), Richmond, Virginia
"The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time," Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
2020
"Drawing 2020," Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY
"The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today," National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, Saint Louis, Missouri; touring to Alaska State Museum, Juneau, Alaska
"20 Years," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
"100 Drawings from Now," The Drawing Center, New York, NY
"25 Years," Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, England
"Artists for New York," Hauser & Wirth, New York, NY
"True Likeness," Van Every/ Smith Galleries, Davidson College, Davidson, NC
"Allied with Power: African and African Diaspora Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection," Pérez Art Museum, Miami, Florida
"Doro Olowu: Seeing Chicago," Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
"LA stories," Brenau University Art Gallery, Gainesville, GA
2019 – 2020
"Re/Devaluing Colorism: Intersections of Skin Color and Currency at Southwest School of Art," Texas
"Pop Stars! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art," 21c Lexington, Kentucky
"The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today," National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C. (touring exhibition)
2019
"Melissa Cody, Bethany Collins, and Deborah Roberts: Heritage," Rebecca Camacho Gallery, San Francisco, CA
"Charles White and the Legacy of the Figure: Celebrating the Gordon Gift," Art Galleries at Black Studies, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
"Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage," Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
"Get Up, Stand Up Now - Generations Of Black Creative Pioneers," Somerset House, London, UK
"Seeing Now," 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, OK
"Plumb Line: Charles White and the Contemporary," Californian African American Museum (CAAM), Los Angeles, CA
"Still I Rise," MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts, USA
2018
"Sidelined," Galerie Lelong, New York, NY
"In the Eye of the Beholder," Tarble Art Center, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL
"Go Figure," Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH
"Reclamation! Pan- African from the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection," Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA
"Talisman In The Age Of Difference," Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
"Soul Recordings," Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
"Legacy of the Cool: A Tribute to Barkley L. Hendricks," Mass Art, Boston MA
"Constructing Identity in America (1766-2017)," Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey
2017
"Fictions," Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY
"Your Body is Your Battleground," Volta Art Fair, New York, NY
"March Madness," Fort Gansevoort, New York, NY
2016
"I know why the caged bird sings," Carver Museum, Austin, TX
2015
"Gently Fried," MACC, Austin, TX
"The House on Mango Street," National Mexican American Museum, Chicago, Ill
2014
"The Way Out- MFA," Rogue Space, New York, NY
2013
"Gender Is A Kind of Doing," MCCLA Galleries, San Francisco CA
2011
The Drawing Center, Viewing Program, New York
"Mirame: 21st century portraits for Latino/a America," Sacramento, CA
2009
"Women of Color," Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, CA
"Her Stories," Park School, Baltimore. MD
2007
"Taking Possession," University of Arkansas at Little Rock
"Counter Intuitive," Chicago State University, Chicago, Ill
2006
"Uncle Tom to Peeping Tom," University of Milwaukee UGA, Milwaukee, WI
"Boundless, Perceptions from Within," DAC, Austin, TX
2005
Museum of Science and Industry Juried Exhibition. Chicago, Ill
Woman Made Gallery, Juried Exhibition, Chicago, Ill
"Subjective Visions," UTSA, San Antonio, TX
"Figure It Out," Art Palace Austin, TX
2004
Susan Woodson Gallery, Chicago, Ill
"Unmasked: A Collective Statement on Beauty," Butridge Gallery Austin, TX
2003
"Bird," Juried Exhibition, Concordia University, Austin, TX
"Our Heritage–Creating New Legacies," Juried Exhibition, Butridge Gallery, Austin, TX
Austin Bergstrom International Airport Juried Exhibition, Austin, TX
2002
Center for African American Studies, University of Texas, Austin, TX
2019
Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition Finalist
2018
Anonymous Was a Woman, NY
2017
Artist of the Year, Austin, TX
2016
Pollock Krasner Foundation, Grantee
2014
SU MFA Exhibition "Best in Show"
2012 – 2014
Creative Opportunity Grant, Syracuse University
2010
San Francisco African American Legacy Scholarship
2008
Artist of the Year, Austin, TX
1991
President Point of Light Recipient, President George H. Bush
2019
Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Residency, Captiva, FL
2018
Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL
2014
Ginsberg-Klaus Award Fellowship, Los Angeles, CA
2011 – 2014
Syracuse University Graduate Research Fellow
2006
Coronado Studios Austin, TX
Stone Metal Press, San Antonio, TX
2005
Ox –Bow Art Residency, MI
2020
Ringle, Hallie. "Deborah Roberts and Questions of Power," Collecting Black Studies. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX.
25 Years, Exhibition catalogue, edited by Gerrie van Noord and Jonathan Horrocks, published by Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, England
2019
Elliot, Patrick, Dr. Freya Gowrley, and Yuval Etgar. "Cut and Paste 400 Years of Collage," Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland.
Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers, Somerset House, London, England, p. 127
Rose King, Daniella. "If they come," London: Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, England
Barnwell Brownlee, Andrea. "Deborah Roberts: The Evolution of Mimi," Atlanta: Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
2018
Washington, Terence. "Deborah Roberts: At the Edge of White Spaces," Fictions. New York: The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY
2023
Hessel, Katy. "‘Black kids deserve to grow old’: collage legend Deborah Roberts on unjust America," The Guardian, February 6
2022
Szaroleta, Tom. "Multimedia show at Cummer Museum puts spotlight on Black children," The Florida Times-Union, September 25
Scott, Chadd. "‘Deborah Roberts: I’m’ Opens At Cummer Museum of Art And Gardens In Jacksonville For Final Stop Of National Tour," Forbes, September 18
Grant, Colin. "‘The story enraged me’ – US artist Deborah Roberts on her Child Q collage," The Guardian, June 7
Knight, Christopher. "Review: Five pandemic-postponed art shows worth seeing right now," The Los Angeles Times, May 12
Wilbekin, Emil. "This Is Deborah Roberts' America," ESSENCE, April 29
Harren, Natilee. "Reviews: Houston, The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse, Contemporary Arts Museum," Artfourm, pg 162, February
White, Aude. "New York Magazine Special Issue: Ten Years After Trayvon Martin," New York Magazine, January 31
Rathe, Adam. "How And Just Like That... Made Lisa Todd Wexley's Apartment a Shrine to Modern Black Art Charlotte York Goldenblatt, meet Mickalene Thomas," Town and Country, January 6
2021
Robinson, Shantay, "Deborah Roberts’ Investment in Time Pays Off," Black Art In America, September 30
Ghassemitari, Shawn. "Deborah Roberts Collages the Strength and Plight of Young Black Children," HypeArt, 27 September
Valentine, Victoria L., "Best of September: 13 New Museum Exhibitions Feature Artists Ulysses Jenkins, Adam Pendleton, Deborah Roberts, Naudline Pierre, Arthur Jafa, Lorna Simpson & More," Culture Type, Sept 21
Valentine, Victoria L., "5 New Art Gallery Exhibitions to See Now Feature Deborah Roberts, Carla Jay Harris, Jarrell Gibbs, LaKela Brown, and Brittney Leeanne Williams," CultureType, September 10
Bachetepe, Hilal. "Deborah Roberts’ "I’m" Debuts at the Museum of Contemporary Art This Weekend," 303 Magazine, September 8
Gipson, Amarie. "The Museum Now, Part II: Deborah Roberts: Contemporary Austin," Artfourm, September
In Collaboration with Jo Malone London, Frieze Magazine. "Dr. V. Joy Simmons’ Los Angeles is ‘a place of possibility’," Frieze, July 23
Hernandez, Jasmin. "Magic, Joy and Celebration: New Art Examines the Eminence of Blackness," Sotheby's, May 19
Little, Colony. "Deborah Roberts’s Intricate and Thoughtful Depictions of Black Childhood," Hyperallergic, May 3
Bennett, Joshua. "I Will Not Be Taught How To Behave," Art in America, May/June
Ragbir, Lise. "Deborah Roberts Shines a Light on the Mistreatment of Black Girls," Frieze, March 19
Artnet News. "26 Art-World Women Celebrate the Women Who Inspire Them, From Feminist Art Critic Linda Nochlin to Arte Povera Legend Marisa Merz," Artnet, March 8
Friel, Katie. "Dazzling San Antonio art museum adds landmark Texas artist to collection," Culture Map, February 26
Jarrett, Renae. "Where the Black girls are: A review of Deborah Roberts’ ‘I’m’," Sight Lines, February 27
Purcell, Barbara. "Deborah Roberts: I'm," The Brooklyn Rail, February 19
Faires, Robert. "Deborah Roberts: I'm" at the Contemporary Austin," The Austin Chronicle, February 19
Barnes, Michael. "Austin artist Deborah Roberts' Contemporary show 'I'm' concerns the art of being seen," Austin 360, February 9
Lloyd-Smith, Harriet. "The powerful collages of artist Deborah Roberts," Wallpaper, January 25
Florsheim, Lane. "Artist Deborah Roberts—a Favorite of Beyoncé and Barack Obama—Gets Her Due," Wall Street Journal, January 23
Marius, Marley. "In Deborah Roberts’s Art, an Interrogation of What Society Imposes on Black Children," Vogue Magazine, January 21
Brand, Heather. "With Fans Like Barack Obama and Beyoncé, Deborah Roberts Opens a New Exhibition in Her Hometown of Austin," Texas Highways, January 21
Oyeniyi, Doyin. "Deborah Roberts Has Exhibited Art Worldwide. She Hasn’t Had a Solo Museum Show in Her Hometown—Until Now," Texas Monthly, January 14
2020
Crable, Devorah. "Deborah Roberts, The Worst Of Times Are The Best Of Times," Pigment Magazine (print), Fall/Winter
Valentine, Victoria. "‘Deborah Roberts: The Evolution of Mimi’ Exhibition Catalog Wins Publication Award," Culture Type, December 15
Roberts, Deborah. "Remembering Juneteenth," Hyperallergic, June 21
Pogrebin, Robin. "With Her First Solo Museum Show Delayed, an Artist Stands Fast," The New York Times, April 12
Cohen, Alina. "Why Some Artists Turn Away Would-Be Buyers," Artsy, March 27
Jones, Lauren. "6 must-see art exhibitions coming soon to Austin museums," CultureMap Austin, February 6
2019
Fullerton, Elizabeth. "Deborah Roberts Renders the Complexity of Black Childhood in Collage," Art in America, October 7
Valentine, Victoria L. "Black Female Artists Are Headlining Exhibitions Throughout London," The Culture Type, July 21
Lee, Erin. "10 art exhibitions to see in July," Royal Academy of Arts Magazine, July 1
Hutton, Belle and Daisy Woodward. "A List of Great Things to Do This July," AnOther, July 1
Epps, Philomena. "Deborah Roberts at Stephen Friedman," Artforum, July 1
Jansen, Charlotte. "The Artist Disrupting Perceptions of Black Youths," Elephant, June 25
Barrie, Lita. "Deborah Roberts Explores The Fragility of Black Masculinity in Native Sons," Riot Material, June 5
Grant, Colin. "Get Up Stand Up Now: Black British art’s response to the Windrush scandal," The Guardian, June 2
Brady, Anna and Margaret Carrigan. "Private view: must - see gallery shows opening this June," The Art Newspaper, May 31
Valentine, Victoria L. "Artist Deborah Roberts Joined Susanne Vielmetter Projects Los Angeles and Has an Exhibition at Gallery’s New Downtown Space," CultureType, April 23
Marcoci, Roxana. "Young Heroines: Deborah Roberts," Mousse Magazine, Spring
2018
Roberts, Deborah. "The Lives They Lived: Linda Brown," New York Times Magazine, December 30
Sheets, Hilarie M. "A Collector Who Grew Up With Art Now Fosters Its Makers," New York Times, December 26
Greenberger, Alex. "Long-Running ‘Anonymous Was a Woman’ Grants Awarded for 2018, With Betty Tompkins and Deborah Roberts Among 10 Winners," ArtNews, December 11
Valentine, Victoria L. "Art Basel Miami Beach 2018: Select Galleries Throughout the Mega Fair are Showing Works By African and African American Artists, Here’s Where to Find Them," The Culture Type, December 6
Williams, Margaret. "People of the Year: Deborah Roberts," Tribeza Artists Curated, November 29
Onyewuwnyi, Ikechukwu Casmir. "Deborah Roberts at Luis de Jesus," Carla, Issue 13, August.
Dambrot, Shana Nys. "Deborah Roberts at Luis de Jesus," Art and Cake, June 10
Luke, Ben. "Artist Deborah Roberts on Yinka Shonibare exhibition and why 'black is not a colour any more," Evening Standard, June 6.
Mizota, Sharon. "Roberts' powerful statement of black female identity," LA Times, May 29
Miller, Ashia. "Deborah Roberts’ #EvolutionOfMimi art tackles heavy topic of colorism," RollingOut, May 25.
Amirkhani, Jordan. "Art Review: 'The Evolution of Mimi' at Spelman Museum," BURNAWAY, April 25.
Cochran, Rebecca. "Deborah Roberts: The Evolution of Mimi," Art Papers, March 17.
Sargent, Antwaun. "The Artist Changing the Face of Black Girlhood," VICE, March 6
Feaster, Felicia. "The power and pathos of girlhood defines Deborah Roberts’ collages," The Atlantic Journal Contribution, March 6.
Van Proyen, Mark. "Deborah Roberts @ Jenkins Johnson," Square Cylinder, February 19.
Larocca, Amy. "Portfolio: Her Breakthrough Women," The New York Magazine, February 5
Green, Tyler. "Deborah Roberts, Anita Witek," Modern Art Notes Podcast, February
Johns, Myke. "Artist Deborah Roberts ‘Emancipates’ Black Girlhood In Spelman Exhibit," National Public Radio, January 25
2017
Twersky, Carolyn. "New Studio Museum Show," ARTNEWS, August 23.
Marino, Rebecca. "Q+A with Deborah Roberts," Conflict of Interest, July 17
Scott, Andrea K. "March Madness in the Meatpacking District," The New Yorker, April 10
Anspon, Catherine D. "Austin Gets Its Own Art Fair," Papercity Magazine, March 30
Kamm, Rebecca. "You Can’t Deny Us: The Artists Showcasing the Power if Female Athletes," Broadly, March 28
Evans, Dayna. "What Does It Mean to Be a Woman in Sports?," The Cut, March 20.
2016
Knudson, Rainey. "Naming and Shaming: Deborah Roberts at Art Palace", Glasstire, November 21
Ryzin, Jeanne Claire van. "Contemporary art exhibit probes African-American identity," Statesmen, September 19
2014
Huete, Betsy. "Deborah Roberts: One and Many," Glasstire, November 29
Ward, Jeff M. "Deborah Roberts: Reconstructing, Reacting and Rethinking at O’Kane Gallery," Fluent Collaborative, issue 79, November 17
21c Museum Hotels, Louisville, KY
Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
American Patrons of the National Library and Galleries of Scotland, Brooklyn, NY
Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX
Block Museum of Art, Evanston, IL
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Chazen Museum of Art, Wisconsin
The Contemporary Austin, Austin, Texas
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY
ICA Boston, Boston, MA
Let Freedom Ring Vol. 2, Lafayette and Flatbush Avenues, New York (digital billboard)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington, DC
Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL
Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Miami, FL
Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH
Ruby City, San Antonio, TX
Scottish National Galleries, Edinburgh, UK
The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY