untitled, Robert Barry

Artwork Overview

Robert Barry, untitled
Robert Barry, untitled
Robert Barry
untitled
1975
Robert Barry, artist
born 1936
untitled, 1975
Where object was made: United States
Material/technique: paper; graphite
Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 34.5 x 34.5 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 13 9/16 x 13 9/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 19 x 19 in
Credit line: The Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the National Gallery of Art, with generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services
Accession number: 2009.0039
Not on display
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Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"NetWorks: Art and Artists from the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection," Mar-2011, Susan Earle, Stephen Goddard, and SMA Interns
In 2004 editor, writer, and curator Jörg Heiser
wrote of an early work by Robert Barry titled, It Has Order (1969-70), “he distributed eight short sentences over four otherwise empty pages: ‘ ... it has order ... it is always changing ... it is affected by other things ... it affects other things ... it is not confined ... it is not in any specific place ... it can be presented, but go unnoticed ... to know of it is to be part of it ... ’ Who or what is the ‘it’ he is talking about? The weather? The Holy Ghost? Sure, he is talking about art, but he could just as easily be talking about inert gases, too.” Similarly, the series of words on the perimeter of the two drawings by Barry exhibited here evoke thoughts, memories, and constructions that rapidly move beyond the physical space of the work itself to our individual mental spaces.

Exhibitions

NetWorks: Art and Artists from the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection
Susan Earle, curator
Stephen Goddard, curator
2011

Resources

Audio

Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Forward, increase, near, happen, love, omen, remote, old, liberate, and external. These are the words written on Untitled by Robert. Robert Barry was born in New York, NY in 1936. Mr. Barry is currently living and working in New Jersey. He has been creating conceptual and idea art since 1963. Also, he is most famous for his piece Inert Gas. He created Untitled in 1975. The piece is about 3 feet by 3 feet. It was made using transfer type, pen, and ink on paper. This piece is located in the temporary gallery left of the central court in the Spencer. I chose Untitled because when I saw it for the first time, I thought to myself that this is not art. This was because it was just a big piece of paper with words on it. I really wanted to throw it away because in reality it was just a big piece of paper. But when I looked closer I saw there was a small border with words on the piece every so often. It was a conundrum to me. Why someone would think that a big piece of paper with words around the edge is art? Then I had an epiphany and thought it could possibly be telling a story. I guess only Robert Barry would know that. This has been Christopher with another Bulldog Podcast.