The son of a German mother and an American father, Robert Carlson moved to El Paso, Texas when he was seven years old, attending public schools and the University of Texas at El Paso.  Rather than attend art school, Carlson began the hard work of teaching himself how to paint, spending over a decade developing a precise and flawlessly smooth technique he refers to as “sharp-focus realism”.  In 1973 he began to work full-time as a professional artist, and to this day works exclusively at his art.