Pamela (Brown) Roberts (1953 - 1998)
Pamela Roberts'
work, informed by the 1970s punk rock scene and affinity for body art, was catalyzed by her own personal health struggles. She became interested in art as a teenager, graduating from the highly selective New York City School of Visual Arts. As she would ruefully later say, she learned a lot about art concepts from her formal studies but not nearly enough about how to draw. A true polymath, after graduation she sidetracked into the punk music scene, becoming a well-known regular at CBGB’s, the legendary East Village punk music club. She wrote for Punk magazine. For a time she was Joey Ramone’s girlfriend.
She met and married the noted tattoo artist, Bob Roberts, and upon moving to Los Angeles revived her interest in art. When her twin sister, Kathy, contracted and then died from breast cancer, Pam’s urge to get back into art became much stronger. She immersed herself in learning how to draw and trying out different styles, continuing to do so even after getting breast cancer herself.
Working with growing urgency as she fought the disease, Pam became increasingly adept and original in her paintings. She began to attract attention in L.A.’s urban outsider art community. Her eye for color, fine sense of proportion, innate sweetness, and wit and humor pervade her work, infusing them with qualities that make them stand out. She had several gallery showings, and sold paintings to a number of celebrity art collectors, including Nicolas Cage and Tony Curtis. She sucumbed to breast cancer in 1998 at the age of 45.
Pamela
Roberts was a painter, not a cartoonist but she did have a comic strip
published in either a tattoo or skate magazine. That was good enough
for me, and good enough for Lines On Paper. If anyone knows of this
strip, I would be happy to place it here. Someone once said that Pam was a combination of June Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver's
TV mom) and Patti Smith. Well, I suppose there's some truth in that
but Pam was also one of the sweetest and dearest friends I've ever
had, and I miss her. I am glad she will always have a place on this
website and a place in my heart.
- Gary Cifra,
Founder of Lines On Paper
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