Accession Number
2008/2.222

Title
Untitled

Artist(s)
Robert Barry

Object Creation Date
1976

Medium & Support
transfer type and ink on paper

Dimensions
7 15/16 in x 7 15/16 in (20.16 cm x 20.16 cm)

Credit Line
The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the Nation Gallery of Art, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute for Museum and Library Services

Label copy
Robert Barry
United States, born 1936
Untitled
1976
Transfer type on paper
2008/2.222

Subject matter
Robert Barry was among the first wave of conceptual artists of the 1960s and early 1970s who made art that was primarily text- and language-based rather than the traditional pictorial orientation of the visual arts. Barry chose combinations of words that seem to be related in some way. For example “aged/ fair” might suggest to the viewer that they are opposing terms, but on second thought, although there is a vague associational relationship between the two words, they are not antonyms. As Anne Rorimer explained, “Words are used in Barry’s artwork to evoke the notion of open-ended space and open-ended meaning.... [T]he viewer is left free to bring their own meaning to the work. But the works also invite participation, allowing viewers to flex their imagination.” (cited in Benjamin Genocchio, “A Career Built on Exploring the Boundaries of Art,” NY Times, 30 Nov 2003)

Physical Description
Transfer type on square sheet of paper. Four lines divide the sheet into quadrants. The lines do not intersect in the middle, and stop just short of the edge of the paper. On each line are two words, one right side up, the other upside down. The “pairs” are (from center out, clockwise from top): aged/ fair; mess/ change; lovely/ private; trap/ hope.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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Keywords
Conceptual
literary theory
text (layout feature)
words