Robert Pruitt: Be of our Space World, 2010, conte and charcoal on kraft paper, 50 by 38 inches. Courtesy Studio Museum.
Houston-based Robert Pruitt’s drawings, on crinkly brown butcher paper, some of which is hand-dyed, depict mostly young women attired in a mix of stylish street wear (track jackets, graphic tees, tight dresses) and perplexing headgear. In one portrait a woman pairs a galaxy-print tunic with a “hat,” constructed from woven-together braids, resembling Vladimir Tatlin’s Monument to the Third International; others don a gold-leaf Rubik’s cube, a basket, a jug or various futuristic-looking pointed vessels.