Rob Diebboll is a painter living and working in Rockport, MA. Rob was born and raised in rural Michigan. His parents, a painter/potter and a weaver with an interest in art and American crafts, demonstrated art as a way of life. He migrated east to attend Bennington College and later settled in Massachusetts. His paintings reflect life in the worlds where he lives and travels: the coasts and islands of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, Florida, the Adirondack Mountains and the Caribbean.

Rob works both outdoors and in the studio. Composing as he goes, he begins with quick gestures, later fleshing them out from memory. Other paintings he ponders for years, singling out an iconic subject. He uses painting as a tool for seeing and understanding the relationship between objects in space. He exposes these relationships by omitting extraneous information and simplifying what he sees. Complex figures are reduced to simple shapes delineated by emboldened colors. Light is distilled to flattened planes and distance compressed by eliminating the horizon.

Over the years, both landscape and the figure have dominated the subject matter of Rob's paintings. He explores the subtle balance between a landscape holding people versus people inhabiting a landscape. By laying these two worlds side by side he gives each a new context. He defines a relationship between people and their environment, one individual and another, a person and their shadow, the viewer and the subject, or even two shapes or colors. With unobtrusive gestures Rob constructs a psychology. He may adjust the distance between figures, consider their scale within the landscape, or shift the curve of waves upon the sand to express serenity or tension, humor or gravity.

representation

Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design, 9A Bridge St., Newport, RI

Muzio Designs, 55 John Wise Ave (Rt. 133), Essex, MA

Studio visits and commissions are common and welcome year-round - see contact page

Select Exhibitions

2024
”New Work: Rob Diebboll + Sam Green + Ashley Roane”, 2-painter + 1-sculptor, Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design, Newport, RI — August 3 - 31
Members Prize Show, juried, "Tide and Fog", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA — February 27 - April 27
Rocky Neck Now, "Summer Meditation", Rocky Neck Art Colony, Gloucester, MA — February – March

2023
Annual Holiday Show, “Indigo”, Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design, Newport, RI — December
Cape Ann Artisans Studio Tour, Cape Ann, MA — June 3-4, October 7-8
seARTS at Bass Rocks, juried, “First Day”, Gloucester, MA
2023 National Prize Show, juried, "Summer Meditation", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA — May 19 – July 7

2022
Annual Holiday Show, Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design, Newport, RI
LAND SEA SKY II, group show, “High Tide Lunacy”, Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design, Newport, RI
Cape Ann Artisans Studio Tour, Cape Ann, MA — June 4-5, October 8-9, December 3
seARTS at Bass Rocks, juried, "Summer Solstice", 2nd Place award, Gloucester, MA
Rocky Neck Now: Stop/Look, “Ballet”, Rocky Neck Art Colony, Gloucester, MA, February – March

2021
Annual Holiday Show, “Indigo”, Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design, Newport, RI
Places We Love, two-person show with Jill Madden, Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design, Newport, RI — August 7 - September 3
Cape Ann Artisans Studio Tour, Cape Ann, MA — June 5-6, October 9-10
Rocky Neck Now: Stop/Look, “Lifeguard”, Rocky Neck Art Colony, Gloucester, MA — February 8 – March 21

2020
Annual Holiday Show, “Haze”, Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design, Newport, RI
RED, "Lifeguard", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
seARTS at Bass Rocks, juried, "The Cove", Gloucester, MA

2019
Members Prize Show, juried, "The Songs We Sing", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
Endless Summer, two-person show with Theresa Girard, Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design, Newport, RI
Cape Ann Artisans Studio Tour, Cape Ann, MA
Rocky Neck Now: Looking All Around, “The Cove”, Rocky Neck Art Colony, Gloucester, MA
Weather or Not, Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design, Newport, RI
Solo show, Matz Gallery at Sawyer Library, Gloucester, MA

2018
Annual Holiday Show, “Haze”, Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design, Newport, RI
Winter Wonders, “Salt Island Fog”, Rocky Neck Art Colony, Gloucester, MA
Fall Salon, "Haze", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
Art in Bloom, Rockport Garden Tour & Plein Air Exhibition, Rockport, MA
Cape Ann Artisans Studio Tour, Cape Ann, MA
Rocky Neck Now, Rocky Neck Art Colony, Gloucester, MA
seARTS at Bass Rocks, juried, "Saratoga Ebbing", Gloucester, MA

2017
Members Prize Show, juried, "Thacher Island and Long Beach", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
Cape Ann Artisans Studio Tour, Cape Ann, MA
seARTS at Bass Rocks, juried, "East Breeze", Gloucester, MA

2016               
seARTS at Bass Rocks, juried, "Long Beach Cottages", Gloucester, MA
By the Sea, solo show, Glen Urquhart School, Beverly Farms, MA
Cape Ann Artisans Studio Tour, Cape Ann, MA
Red Biennial, juried, "Lifeguards", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA

2015               
seARTS at Bass Rocks, juried: second place, "Lifeguards", Gloucester, MA
Cape Ann Artisans Studio Tour, Cape Ann, MA
National Prize Show, juried, "Tapestry", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA

2014              
seARTS at Bass Rocks, juried: second place, "Storm Surfers", Gloucester, MA
Cape Ann Artisans Studio Tour, Cape Ann, MA

2013              
Plenty, 13FOREST Gallery, Arlington, MA
seARTS at Bass Rocks, Gloucester, MA
National Prize Show, juried, "Enlightenment", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
Cape Ann Artisans Studio Tour, Cape Ann, MA
Cape Ann Artisans at 30, "Storm Surfers", Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA

2012              
seARTS at Bass Rocks, juried: first place, "Winter Beach", Gloucester, MA
National Prize Show, juried, "Storm Surfers", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA

2011                
seARTS at Cape Ann Medical Center, Gloucester, MA

2010              
Northeast Prize Show, juried, "Early Spring", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
seARTS at Bass Rocks, Gloucester, MA

2009              
Red, juried, "Red Flag", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
Northeast Prize Show, juried, "Red Flag", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA

2008              
Blue, juried, "Fall Walk", Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
Members Juried I, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA

2007              
Coastal Paintings, Art and Architecture Gallery, Rockport, MA
Annual Group Exhibition, ArtSpace Maynard, Maynard, MA
Within Range, ArtSpace Maynard, Maynard, MA
Members Juried I, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA

2006              
Recent Work, Lincoln Library, Lincoln, MA
3 Artists, Carlisle Library, Carlisle, MA
Annual Group Exhibition, ArtSpace Maynard, Maynard, MA
Members Juried I, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA

2005              
Water Views, Lincoln Library, Lincoln, MA
Annual Group Exhibition, ArtSpace Maynard, Maynard, MA
3 Spaces, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA

2004
Small Works, ArtSpace Maynard, Maynard, MA
Annual Group Exhibition, ArtSpace Maynard, Maynard, MA

2003              
Small Works, ArtSpace Maynard, Maynard, MA
Annual Group Exhibition, ArtSpace Maynard, Maynard, MA

2002              
Small Works, ArtSpace Maynard, Maynard, MA
Annual Group Exhibition, ArtSpace Maynard, Maynard, MA

2001              
Annual Group Exhibition, ArtSpace Maynard, Maynard, MA
Juried Student Exhibition, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA

Chronology

1958               
Born Detroit, Michigan

1980              
BFA, Painting and Photography, Bennington College

1998-2003    
DeCordova Museum School

2001-2008    
Studio at ArtSpace Maynard

2008-2013    
Rob Diebboll Studio, private gallery, School St., Rockport, MA

2013               
Rob Diebboll Studio, Camborne Way, Rockport, MA