Robert Barry is one of the four artists who are considered by art history as the founders of conceptual art: Robert Barry, Douglas Huebler, Joseph Kosuth and Lawrence Weiner. Critic Gabriel Guerci even uses the acronym BHKW* to name the four artists together, the same as with the Paris-based art group BMPT. More than the singularity of their works, it's perhaps the way they display them that distinguishes them from other artists of their time, for example through the catalog-exhibitions held by Seth Siegelaub such as the January Show in 1969: the dematerialisation of the exhibition, and thus of art, is one of these artists' main concerns.
Robert Barry's ambition to discard the object of art in order to concentrate on the idea is particularly strong. His interest for questions of perception brings him to the renouncement of visuality. He adopts a radical position, developing invisible works, in series such as Inert Gas in 1969, or conceiving mental works, which are based on thoughts, such as the series of Psychic: All the things I know but of which I am not at the moment thinking: 1:36 pm; June 15, 1969.
Hence, Robert Barry exclusively uses language to render his psychic works public. — All the things I know but of which I am not at the moment thinking — This is one of the most famous Statements made by Robert Barry on June 15, 1969 at 1:36 pm. This work only exists thanks to its formulation, its time frame is even recorded in the formulation itself to testify to its existence; later, the statement would be displayed on the gallery walls and materialized with vinyl letters. The exhibition Live in your Head: When Attitudes Become Forms**, quickly turned out to be decisive, revealing the main questioning of contemporary art. (cf. Jack Burnham, Alice's Head. Reflexions on Conceptual Art.***)
* Gabriel Guerci, "Formés dans la résistance : Barry, Huebler, Kosuth et Weiner contre la presse américaine", L'art conceptuel, une perspective, exhibition catalogue, Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1989, p. 65-73.
** Famous exhibition conceived by Harald Szeemann presented in 1969 in Bern and reconstituted at the Venice Prada Foundation in 2013 for the occasion of the International Biennale of Contempory Art.
*** Jack Burnham, «Alice's head, Reflexions on Conceptual Art» in Artforum, Vol. 8, n°6 (February 1970), p. 40-43.
Artworks
Binder, 188 pages
12.2 x 10.63 in ( 31,7 x 27 cm )
Set of three sheets of paper in its portfolio
11.02 x 8.27 in ( 28 x 21,5 x 0,6 cm )
62 index cards in a walnut wooden box
6.69 x 4.72 x 1.57 in ( 17,4 x 12,4 x 4,9 cm )
25 volumes, each 2008 pages
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DVD, colour & black and white video, 16/9, 31 minutes
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10.63 x 10.63 in ( 27,6 x 27,6 cm )
