Robert Lee Tatum was born in Inglewood, South Central Los Angeles, in 1963, he started drawing at 5 and never put the pencil down. Illustrating and graphic design through high school and a short stint Pasadena Art Center College of Design. Tatum went on to work at multiple ad agencies in Los Angeles, including Doyle Dane Bernbach, Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, HRLA (Disney), as well as graphic design firms. In 1985, Tatum pursued his own skate/street line while representing famous graffiti artists Risk, Realm and Mear One. After selling his company in 1990, Tatum moved to Grand Cayman and produced art for the Caribbean Tourist Council and sold work in Jamaica on a regular basis for a year before moving back to the states.
Tatum moved to San Antonio Texas in the beginning of 1992 and as soon as he got there, proceeded to paint the town, literally, with murals. Some were considered very controversial and put him in the city map so to speak, and the rest was history. He started different event/gallery/art houses such as Wong Spot, Wiggle Room, Ellis Bean, and The Honey Factory. He was also on the board for Art in the Hood and King William First Friday and was also a part of The Sketchy Neighbors group art collective in Houston, Texas with Houston artist Carlos Hernandez.
Since that time, he continued to pursue his work thru designing logos, interiors, and event posters and merchandise for various local events. Such events included San Antonio JazzSALive, Poteet Strawberry Festival, King William Fair, San Antonio Contemporary Art Month to name a few. He has also participated in the SASAI Mural project, painted a wall mural for Pabst headquarters in San Antonio, and he curated the "Birds of a Feather" mural at Blue Star Arts Complex.
He now curates a gallery called HotBox, for Remedy CBD Parlor in the King William area on S. Presa, San Antonio, Texas. He shows his own work there as well as curates different shows for local and Texas artists, the occasional guest artist and slings his own t-shirts and other merch. He is also available to do commissions and logos and other such stuff.
"I didn't come to change Texas, Texas changed me". — Tatum