February 6–April 4, 2015
Opening: February 5, 6–8pm
Hunter College
Art Galleries
205 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 1–6pm
The exhibition
Robert Barry: All the things I know…1962 to the present examines the art of Robert Barry (b. 1936, American), an artist widely regarded as one of the founders of American Conceptualism. Since the 1960s, Barry has investigated the conditions of art and perception and explored the evocative and communicative properties of words. He has used radio waves, inert gases, and even telepathy to question traditional assumptions about art and expand its possibilities.
Marking the first major solo exhibition of Barry’s work by an academic institution in New York—and the first in the United States in 30 years—Robert Barry: All the things I know…1962 to the present features works from six decades of the artist’s career. Among the exhibition’s highlights are two new site-specific window and wall pieces and the groundbreaking early works Electromagnetic Energy Field (1968), Closed Gallery (1969), Inert Gas Series: Helium (1969), Marcuse Piece (1972), and Invitation Piece (1972–73). A new variation of a continuing performance piece by Barry is also included and will be performed for the first time by students. Running for the duration of the exhibition, this performance showcases Barry’s longstanding interest in exploring the temporal dimension of art and continues his history of artistic collaborations with Hunter College students, which began when he taught at the college in the 1960s and 1970s.
In conjunction with Robert Barry: All the things I know…1962 to the present, Barry will be the spring 2015 Judith Zabar Visiting Artist at Hunter College. The Judith Zabar Visiting Artist program allows Hunter to bring a series of internationally recognized artists to campus to work directly with students in the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and Master of Arts (MA) programs, providing students with a unique opportunity to interact with top practitioners in their fields. Barry will engage with students through master classes, critical seminars, workshops, and private tutorials. He will additionally give a public lecture on his work.
Robert Barry: All the things I know…1962 to the present is organized by Max Weintraub, Hunter College Visiting Assistant Professor; and Sarah Watson, Hunter College Art Galleries Acting Director and Curator; and Annie Wischmeyer, Assistant Curator. Additional exhibition support is provided by Jenn Bratovich, Tatiana Mourarbes, Jordon Schranz, and Jocelyn Spaar.
About the artist
Born in 1936, Robert Barry received his BFA and MA from Hunter College, where he was also a professor from 1963 to 1979. Since his first solo exhibition in 1964, Barry’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the US and internationally. His artwork is included in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Musée d’Orsay, Paris; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, among others. Barry currently lives and works in Teaneck, New Jersey.
This exhibition is made possible by the leadership support of Carol Goldberg, Agnes Gund, and an anonymous donor. We are also grateful to the Judith Zabar Visiting Artist program at Hunter College.
About the Hunter College Art Galleries
The Hunter College Art Galleries, under the auspices of the Department of Art and Art History, have been a vital part of the New York cultural landscape since their inception over a quarter of a century ago. The Robert Barry: All the things I know…1962 to the present exhibition builds on a long tradition of creative interchange between the disciplines of art history and studio art at Hunter.
Widely regarded as one of the leading art programs in the country, Hunter College’s Department of Art and Art History serves both undergraduate and graduate students, offering an undergraduate major in Art (BA), a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Studio Art, and a Master of Arts (MA) in Art History. In its 2012 rankings of “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” U.S. News & World Report ranked Hunter’s MFA program 13th and the painting and drawing program seventh in the nation.
For more information, please call T +1 212 772 4991 or email [email protected].
