Robert Brownwell

Robert “Robbie” Brownwell is one of those rare things—a true California native. Born and raised in the same South Bay of the Beach Boys, Robbie moved from exploring his Mom’s stack of classic rock and pop records in their living room to picking up a guitar of his own in middle school. In high school, Robbie was good at academics, but great at music, fine arts, and industrial drafting classes, blurring the line between his painting, wood crafting, and classic car restoration at home and at school. In high school he also started his first band, See Spot, a ska band that played on bills with other notable 3rd wave groups like Hepcat, Let’s Go Bowling, and No Doubt. Through high school and beyond he also played rock and blues on multiple instruments, while working as a music arranger and band leader.

Robbie also explored his love of Southern California architecture and history by exploring urban landscapes in drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, mixed media, photography/videography. Over the years, Robbie focused not on holding onto his artwork, but giving it away to family, friends, people he cared about, even strangers who expressed interest in his work. He was focused on the act of creation itself rather than building his own portfolio. This vision of art as community experience led him to Long Beach in 2012, where he acted as curator at the DLBA-sponsored Vayden Roi Gallery nonprofit program, which activated empty commercial spaces on Pine Avenue with gallery spaces offering weekday open hours as well as artist receptions on Friday and Saturday evenings. He cofounded Work Evolution Laboratories, a co-working space for professional artists and creative entrepreneurs, and there also curated the art gallery of the Work Evolution space and organized events spotlighting local artists and creative groups and projects. At Work Evolution, he opened the first LBCAP-PADNET public access satellite production hub.

Today, he owns his own company, Quarter Panel Guitar Co., where he produces art, electric guitars, and live rock and roll projects at his private creative studio in downtown Long Beach. In his “smuggler’s shadow box” guitars that are playable artworks, some of which are currently on exhibit at ISM brewing on the promenade in Downtown Long Beach, Robbie’s art comes full circle as he pays homage to his vision of guitars as the creative weaponry of his heroes and as sacred objects. While his focus these last few years has been on this work, his aspiration is to foray into larger, almost industrial pieces designed for private companies and/or public spaces, once again connecting his art to a larger community experience. Throughout all his artistic endeavors, he holds onto his tenet that “depth, color, and contrast are crucial in my process but even more important is my passion for the subject matter: I let my heart decide what I choose to create.”