I may have a lot of political opinions but it doesn't necessarily come into my work. I keep the two worlds separate. Robert Barry More Quotes by Robert Barry More Quotes From Robert Barry Words have very potent meanings and people read them and they react to them personally. They are very suggestive in terms of your life and things like that. Robert Barry termpeople A text makes the word more specific. It really kind of defines it within the context in which it is being used. If it is just taken out of a context and presented as a sort of object, which is what - you know, which is a contemporary art idea, you know. It is like an old surrealist idea or an old cubist idea to take something out of context and put it in a completely different context. And it sort of gives it a different meaning and creates another world, another kind of world in which we enter. Robert Barry takenideasart If you are operating in a certain way and you are thinking in a certain direction, suddenly opportunities arise. And if you are open to it, if you are not locked into your style too much or to what you think works. Robert Barry styleopportunitythinking The only problems I sometimes have is if I ask for a piece for a group show, if I ask for a piece - I would like to put it into a show, sometimes the collectors get possessive about it and don't want to let something happen. Say you get full credit, you know. You give them your name, the catalog and it always enhances the value of the piece, you know, the more shows it is in, blah, blah, blah. Robert Barry groupsnamesgiving I am good in the fact that most of my reviews have been very positive really. I get pretty good reviews. There have been some that aren't - critical. I think they are extremely - the people that wrote them really don't understand what they are looking at quite frankly or have a very preconceived notion of what conceptual art should be or where I am at or the fact that I may change what I have done from what I did 20 years ago. But there is always some reason that they just sort of get it wrong. And so it certainly doesn't affect my work. Robert Barry yearsartthinking I prefer music but sometimes if there's on talk radio - someone might be on that I like. I listen to the old - to "Air America," down at the - liberal talk shows and things like that I find kind of nice, their criticizing the conservatives. I find that quite relaxing, entertaining, but music, a lot of music. Robert Barry niceairamerica The space between things is important to me. The projections, that darkness between the words or the images is very important. Robert Barry spaceimportantdarkness I mean, part of the justification for art is art history, the fact that you're part of this tradition. You can't really operate outside of it. So looking for what this work is really about, if I look at Velázquez, if I look at Las Meninas or The Tapestry Weavers [1657] or something and really study it and try to figure out what that painting is really about, then I find relationships between what I'm trying to do and what he was doing. Robert Barry tryingmeanart I'm always looking for relations between my work and the old masters. Robert Barry mastersrelation I'm not a person - and my wife also - we don't really go to the beach or anything like that. We go to cities. Robert Barry wifecitiesbeach The first place I try to go when I have free time is the museums. I'm a big museum person. Robert Barry tryingmuseumsfirsts I was at one point thinking about being an art historian, when I was in school. And not being an artist, but I decided I was going to be an artist but I'm really mad for art history and the masters mostly. Robert Barry artschoolthinking I'm getting more and more into Chinese art and Japanese, some of those scroll paintings are amazing. You follow the change of the seasons. It's really something. These guys were great masters and of course the use of space. Robert Barry guyspaceart I don't have a dream project. I don't really think in those terms, to tell you the truth. Robert Barry projectsdreamthinking I make my own surprises and I'm always surprised to see what I do, to see it when it's finished and the biggest challenge is once I finish it, it's not a failure. It's not a flop. Robert Barry my-ownsurprisechallenges I'm my own worst critic. I mean, I know what's wrong with everything that I've done. Robert Barry worstdonemean People who look at art don't really - don't go with the artist. They don't sort of accept what he or she has done and kind of go with it. There are always - either there's too much color or not enough color, either it's not conceptual enough or it's too conceptual. In other words, most criticism isn't what the viewer expected that it would do based on what they think you have done and that's good as far as I'm concerned. Robert Barry colorartthinking Everybody is always satisfied with what I do. Robert Barry satisfied I like challenge. I like to be put into a situation which I haven't done before. Something new presents itself and I see if I can somehow finagle it into making a work of art out of it. Robert Barry donechallengesart I never stop thinking about what I have to do. Let's put it that way. The only thing that takes me out of that is probably a film. I watch a lot of movies. Robert Barry watcheswaythinking
