Robert Barry

Robert Barry, considered one of the founding fathers of the American Conceptual Art movement, was born in New York City in 1936 and completed his B.F.A., M.A. at Hunter College, The City University of New York.
Transcending the physical limitations of space and material, he has employed radio waves as medium, and performance, installation, and attempted telepathy as technique, challenging what would be accepted as “typical” artistic practice or experience. For his word list installations, Barry imprints capitalized words directly on walls or surfaces to evoke narrative and inspire contemplation. Barry encourages free association of meaning to his work.
His work has been included in epoch-making exhibitions such as When Attitudes Become Form… at the Kunsthalle Bern and The Institute of Contemporary Art, London (1969) and Documenta V (1972). Since then, he has shown in innumerable important exhibitions all over the world including the landmark show, Reconsidering the Object of Art at LA MoCA (1995). From the early 1970s, Barry has been the subject of various solo shows at important venues including the Tate Gallery, London (1972), the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1974), Museum of Conceptual Art, San Francisco,California (1978), The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago (1985) and the Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich (2001).
2003/04 saw a comprehensive retrospective and accompanying catalgoue of his early work, A Place To Which We Can Come, Works from 1963 to 1975 at the Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany and Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland.