“Barry was one of the first to see that mass and volume in sculpture were not dependent upon visibility… But also, and perhaps more importantly, that language was a necessary component to communicate the idea in conceptual art.”

Robert C. Morgan

Robert Barry (b. 1936, USA)

Robert Barry is one of the founders of the Conceptual Art movement. For over

six decades, Barry has challenged the boundaries of art and the status quo

with deeply philosophical yet playful works that question the status of the art

object. Barry’s works have become increasingly influential and inspirational for

many artists, especially for recent generations, with their emphasis on

immateriality, language, and the limits of perception. Although Barry’s oeuvre is

rooted in conceptualism and consistently employs words as a medium, his

artwork includes installations, sculpture, painting, photography, and slide

projection.

Barry has created permanent site-specific works all around the world,

including at Deutsche Bank headquarters and the Panza Collection. His

work is included in the permanent collections of renowned museums,

including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Hirshhorn Museum and

Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,

New York; the Musée d’Orsay, Paris; the Whitney Museum of American Art,

New York; the Musée National D’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou,

Paris; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the National

Gallery of Art, Washington, DC