My paintings communicate a state of controlled chaos as I combine two divergent forces and approaches: realism and abstract expression. Through a proficient handling of light, a mastery of images, and a skillful mark-making method, the paintings confer an illusion of reality on something that’s not real. The end result occupies a space between magic and illusion rooted in the American realist tradition. My painting philosophy is art is magic, and the magic is illusion.

Robert Sherer grew up in a classic American family during the 1960s and 70s. His father was in the aircraft/aerospace industry and his mother was frequently ‘Homemaker of the Year’. Because his youth most closely resembles the illustrations of camping and scouting books of the era, Sherer derives his autobiographical artworks from such visual resources.

As a painter my engagement with the medium of photography is rudimentary. After all, the scanograph is laughably simplistic, the twenty-first-century equivalent of the photogram. If the optical scanner holds my attention, it is because it promises a pure, straightforward visibility. It simply registers all visual data, without bias; one is tempted to say that it sees as if it cannot be seen. Of course, this does not mean that the scanner produces evidence of the spectacle played out before it.

My drawings are constructed over extended periods—months and years. Darks are usually mixed from other colors, not including black, as a means of keeping warm and cool tonalities in flux. My primary medium is watercolor, and in recent works I have used gum arabic to help build tone, add transparency, control washes, and increase reversibility. At the same time, I have been observing color more closely and have added more hues to my palette.