CAROLINE SAVOIE | Staff Writer
CarolineLSavoie@gmail.com
Robbie Conover, a vibrant and prolific Dallas artist known for his bold pop art and generous spirit, died April 19 at his home in Oak Cliff. He was 68.
Conover left behind a legacy of color, compassion and community. He spent four decades creating art that ranged from abstract watercolors to campy, comic-style collages, frequently donating his work to support LGBTQ+ organizations such as Black Tie Dinner, Resource Center and Greg Dolgener Memorial AIDS Fund’s MetroBall.
Conover was voted Best Artist in Dallas Voice’s Readers Voice Awards for multiple years, including 2025.
“He wanted everyone to experience art, even if it wasn’t his art,” said his younger sister, Tisha White. “He was like a kid at show-and-tell, just so excited to share.”
That childlike sense of wonder and deep commitment to community will be on full display during a memorial exhibit opening Sunday, Aug. 3, at The Goodrich Gallery, located inside the First United Methodist Church at 1928 Ross Ave., across the street from Dallas Museum of Art.
The exhibit will feature 50 to 60 works spanning Conover’s career, many loaned for the exhibit by friends, family and collectors. The reception, set for noon to 2 p.m., is open to the public.
“Getting all the art together has been like herding cats,” said Scott Berry, the gallery volunteer organizing the show. “But the variety is beautiful. We have comic strip pieces in bold primary colors, delicate florals, painted coolers, even a decorated Styrofoam pumpkin.
It shows how Robbie saw art in everything.”
One of the centerpiece works is a large floral watercolor Conover painted as a gift for his mother before attending Pratt Institute in New York City to study commercial art. White said the piece hung over their mother’s bed until her death in 2011.
Conover took the painting after his mother’s death, and now, after his own, it will be on display for all to experience.
“I remember watching him paint it when I was 11 or 12 years old, sitting on this little stool he used to prop his foot up on while he made these flowers just appear,” White said of her big brother, 25 years her senior. “With just the wave of his hand, something beautiful came to life.”
Born in Wichita, Kan., in 1956, Conover was the eldest of six siblings. His father worked briefly for Disney, and art ran through the family. Conover’s artistic journey took him to New York in the 1970s, where he was swept into the pop art scene and deeply influenced by icons like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg.
After the 1996 Olympics, a chance encounter on a flight with then-Dallas-local TV reporter Ashleigh Banfield led Conover to Dallas, where he was commissioned to paint a series of public murals.
He never left.
In Dallas, Conover embedded himself in the LGBTQ+ community. He attended Gaybingo, donated artwork for charity and became a familiar face at local events. Though he was reserved about his personal life, White said her brother was deeply generous with his time, his talents and his home.
“He gave everything,” White said. “His spare bedroom, his couch, his food, his art. He just loved to make people smile.”
White, who lives in Oklahoma City and is currently in remission from breast cancer, said the past year has brought profound grief. Her brother, best friend, father figure and stand-in mother died just as she was finishing radiation and surgery.
“We leaned on each other through every loss,” she said. “Now that he’s gone, I don’t know where to lean, so I’m just swaying, trying not to fall over. He was everything to me.”
For White, Conover wasn’t just a brother; he was the constant thread that held her together through a lifetime of heartbreak.
“I’ve had a lot of loss in my life,” she said. “I lost a child, a grandfather, a mom, my brothers.
Each loss has left a huge hole. But Robbie was there every step of the way.”
Even from hundreds of miles away, White said, he showed up. He sent care packages when she was young and later mailed gifts to her children as they grew up. When grief swept in, White said it was Robbie’s voice she leaned on.
Since his passing, she said the silence has been almost unbearable.
“He was so loud, and now it’s so quiet,” she said.
Conover’s little sister says she hears him in old videos, sees him in pop art billboards and good food, in the pull of the ocean and the sorrow on her children’s faces.
“I wake up every day not thinking about it,” she said. “But then something happens, and I pick up the phone to call him, and my whole world crashes down. But through driving to pick up his art for the show, I’ve been able to connect with him again.”
White said some of Conover’s most intimate pieces will be displayed in the show, including a Prismacolor drawing of Marilyn Monroe he made when White was 13 years old. She said she remembers him working on the piece while she was over at his home for a sibling sleepover, and he kept sneaking away from the movie they were watching to work on it for just a few minutes.
“He couldn’t stay away from it,” she said. “It was like the drawing literally pulled him in. I was in awe that he could create something like that from colored pencils.”
The Aug. 3 celebration will include light refreshments, remarks from White and her brother, a prayer from the minister at First United Methodist Church, and an opportunity for attendees to share stories.
The exhibit will remain on view through September.
“Robbie believed art should be fun and involved for the viewer,” Berry said. “This show is a way to share that joy with everyone who loved him or is just discovering him now.”
For more information about the exhibit, visit FirstChurchDallas.org/Event/Goodrich-Gallery-Meet-The-Artist-Robbie-Conover.
