Robert Cottingham is recognized as one of the most important American Photorealists. His works depict mid-20th century signs, typefaces, railroad boxcars, and mechanical components in various dynamic compositions with intensified color and light. The artist has described his fascination with signs as originating from trips to Times Square as a child: I think thats when the seed was planted, when I saw the kind of activity going on above the ground level. Obsessed with the precise geometry of his subjects, the artists process incorporates a series of steps that can include sketches, photographs, shapes mapped onto grids, and model construction. His crisp, often-monumental works celebrate and accentuate the forms of his subjects while remaining devoid of nostalgia. His works are in the permanent collections of many of the most prestigious museums including The Guggenheim Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art (New York) and The Art Institute of Chicago.