The Rob Moore Retrospective

I only knew Rob Moore for the last two years of his life. I wasn’t one of the friends who called him Robbie. But I knew him as a kind and generous professor who deeply cared about art and all those around him. Rob exerted an incredible gravity and influence on those he taught at Mass Art for 25 years, and that influence extended into the Greater Boston art scene and far beyond.

When I graduated Mass Art in ’92, I got a studio on Wareham Street right next to Rob’s. I was looking forward to developing a real friendship outside of college. Sadly, AIDS took his life that same year. The fact that he died of AIDS really hit me hard. There was such shame around this disease. But Rob lived openly gay with his partner Brian. He was such a positive influence. I didn’t want this disease to make him disappear forever like it did so many others.

I am still in the same studio 32 years later and now run a small gallery with a long brick wall that travels into the space that was once Rob’s, where he painted some of his greatest works. In 2023, just after the 30th anniversary of Rob’s passing, someone suggested that I do a show of Rob’s work. I thought it was a great idea to honor a man who had such an influence on my artistic life. The idea expanded into a website, since so little about Rob can be found on the internet. Rob would have been 87 now. Some of his closest friends have passed away, but many are still with us and have provided materials that you will see on the site.

The Rob Moore Project is both a retrospective at Gallery VERY and a website that will act as a permanent digital archive memorializing all things Rob Moore—his art, photos, ephemera, and writing by him and others about him. The project aims to introduce Rob and his work to a new generation and reignite his reputation. Coming shortly after will be the first issue of VERY Magazine dedicated to The Rob Moore Project.

-John Guthrie, the Founder/Director of Gallery VERY and The Rob Moore Project

Viewing hours are Saturdays 2 - 5pm and by appointment.