Installation view: Robert Barry: All the things I know... 1962 to the present, Hunter College Art Galleries, 2015. Photo by Bill Orcutt.

Robert Barry: All the things I know... 1962 to the present

Curated by Max Weintraub, Sarah Watson, and Annie Wischmeyer

February 6–April 4, 2015
Opening Reception: February 6, 6–8pm

205 Hudson Gallery
Hunter College Art Galleries
205 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013

Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 1–6pm

Robert Barry: All the things I know... 1962 to the present examines the art of Robert Barry (American, born 1936), 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 thirty 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 Untitled Performance (1972–present) 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. 

Born in 1936, Robert Barry received his BFA and MA from Hunter College, where he also taught from 1964 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 Judy and Stanley Zabar for their support of Robert Barry's residency at Hunter College through the Judith Zabar Visiting Artist Program. 

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