Robert Pokorny

Robert Pokorny was born in Merced, California in 1969. He began drawing and painting as a young child and said that he was “inadvertently” placed into a high school art class that ignited his creativity and desire to pursue a career as an artist.

He was influenced by his three older brothers, his father in the military and his mother who introduced him to the music, culture and counterculture of the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s.

Pokorny received his MFA in 2011 from California State University Long Beach.

Much of his work begins, and ends, with crayon drawings. “I love to push paint but there is something about beginning new work with crayons,” he said in an interview in Art Collector News. “There is a primal quality about them that I enjoy, the directness, the feeling of them and the wide selection of colors that are ready to go. Crayons have a wonderful wonky quality gliding across the paper that just feels good. They allow me to quickly put ideas together which can be easily fleshed out or kept really loose. I usually begin every project by sitting down with crayons.”

Pokorny was awarded the Palos Verdes Art Center Board of Trustees Award in 2012, the Beverly G. Alpay Award for Working Visual Artists and the Windes & McClaughry Corporate Gallery Award in 2011.

His works are in private and public collections in the U.S. and Europe.

Robert Pokorny lives and works in Los Angeles.