Written by Jay Stahl // Des Moines Register
The work of Des Moines-based multidisciplinary artist Robert Moore is hung on the walls of celebrity homes, has graced galleries and will soon rest in museum exhibits.
Up until 2023, the 39-year-old artist, also known in the art world as "B.Moore.," felt ignored with a lack of public recognition in his hometown. Moore overcame addictions to cocaine and alcohol in the late 2010s by using paint and canvas as a therapeutic means to heal from inner conflicts and the complexities earned from an unwanted life.
Later, the former suburban father of three, who calls being a dad his "No. 1 job," left behind a marriage to his children's mother and a corporate job in consulting through TEKsystems as a program manager for Transamerica. He also changed his appearance and said, at the time, "(I'm) going to stop cutting my hair. I’m going to stop trying to conform with my talk, my persona.”
He started painting casually in 2017 and collectors include "CBS Mornings" anchor Gayle King, "Yacht Club" rapper Lil Yachty, Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson and "All American" star Taye Diggs, who attended the opening gallery reception for his first solo show, "Out the Mud: A Black American Rite of Passage," which premiered and sold out in March at Thinkspace Projects in Los Angeles.
Now, he is one of the most noted artists in recent history to bring mainstream attention to Iowa since Grant Wood, a regionalist who painted "American Gothic," which is widely recognized as one of the most famous paintings in American history with its depiction of a farmer in overalls holding a hayfork next to his daughter in front of a white home in rural Eldon. Moore is a modern-day Wood with an L.A. Dodgers cap and gold chain.