Born in Jasper, Alabama, Robert studied drawing, painting, and printmaking at Walker College, Atlanta College of Art, Georgia State University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Edinboro University, where he received his Master of Fine Arts degree in 1992. In the 1990s, Sherer received international press attention from four highly-reported art controversies in the USA.

He is considered by freedom-of-speech advocates to be among the most censored artists in his native country. As a result of these attacks on his freedom of expression, Sherer's art has become increasingly activist in nature through the years. His sexual-political content now involves three separate strains of visual inquiry: gender reversals of famous paintings to mock the sexism of Western art history, scenes of gay teen romance rendered in camp craft materials, and images addressing AIDS issues drawn in HIV+ and HIV- blood.

In addition to being a visual artist, he has been an art critic, arts juror, lecturer, art dealer, and educator. In the USA, Sherer's artwork is exhibited by Lyman-Eyer Gallery, Provincetown, MA.; and Robert Kidd Gallery, Detroit, MI. He represented the USA in the 2001 Florence Biennale in Florence, Italy; the 2002 Triennale de Paris in Paris, France and he will be in the 2007 Florence Biennale in Florence, Italy. He is presently an art professor and distinguished scholar at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.