Best Artist

Robert PruittThe man is ubiquitous. The Contemporary Arts Museum, DiverseWorks, Lawndale Art Center, Project Row Houses, OneTen Studios, you name it -- Pruitt has shown his work just about everywhere in town that has an available wall. His series of "Black Stuntman" cartoons chronicles the life of a hapless antihero, doing his best to make it in this whitewashed world. His hip-hop-based work with Otabenga Jones and Associates has graced the walls of several spaces around town -- not to mention a few outdoor places in the urban landscape, like the video return box at Hollywood Video. And then there are his paintings: computerized re-creations of Norman Rockwell classics with a blaxploitative twist. In one, white farmers gawk at a woman's booty and white kids stare at their Afroed counterparts.