Robert Barry — Taking your Time — Michèle didier Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: February 18 → May 5, 2012

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 goes the title of Niele Toroni’s book. As it seems our time is running out, let’s take our time. Take a cushion, a book and consult the book on a cushion.

The artist has collected books since the 60’s and has selected for this exhibition 25 works from his personal library that are related to «time». The productions are carefully selected in a wide spread of time going from 1966 to 2008 and represent this universal idea of time through their title, their cover or their content. Moreover, Robert Barry’s curatorial proposal is enhanced by his decision to duplicate the pages that he considers important, from all the exhibited books, on the walls of the gallery.

This is the list of works chosen by par Robert Barry, a selection that one has to consider and examine thoughtfully, as all his choices make sense: numbers, digits, mathematical sequences, journeys, dates, ideas. And at last, there is the notion of living, walking, talking.

97 «date paintings» consecutives, journaux de 1966 à 1975, On Kawara; Non-Anthropomorphic Art, Joseph Kosuth, Christine Kozlov, Michael Rinaldi, Ernest Rossi; Statements, Lawrence Weiner; Robin Redbreast Territory, Jan Dibbets; Catalog from Addison Gallery exhibit, Douglas Huebler; Durata, Duration, Douglas Huebler; Ingres and Other Parables, John Baldessari; Steps, Stanley Brouwn; LEGGERE, Giovanni Anselmo; Fibonacci 1202, Mario Merz; Throwing a Ball Once to Get Three Melodies and Fifteen Chords, John Baldessari; A Voyage on the North Sea, Marcel Broodthaers; Having from time to time a relation to, Lawrence Weiner; Once upon a time, Lawrence Weiner; Skyline Ridge, Hamish Fulton; The Cube the White the Idealism followed by Going Through, Daniel Buren; The Red and Blue Books, Louise Lawler; Variations On I Am Still Alive On Kawara, Sol Lewitt; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Niele Toroni; WITHIN (TIME), Peter Downsbrough; The Discussions, Ian Wilson; Squares With Sides and Corners Torn Off, Sol Lewitt; Zeichnungen, Max Neuhaus; And Now, Peter Downsbrough; The Telephone Book, John Baldessari; (Untitled), Louise Lawler; March 1969, Seth Siegelaub.

mfc-michèle didier gallery takes this great opportunity to present all the artist’s productions made to this date by the publisher. In the work Art Lovers, the visitor will be able to take his time to guess the identity of the faces hidden behind the words:

CHANGING, ABSURD, ILLUSION, EXPECT, EXPRESSION, URGENT, ALMOST, SOMEHOW, CONTINUE, DISTURB, CRUCIAL, UNKNOWN, HOPE, DIFFERENT, FEELING, SUGGEST, IMPLY, INEVITABLE, ANOTHER, REASON, PASSION, IMMINENT, ABOUT, DOUBT, CONSIDER, WITHOUT, BELIEVE, BEYOND, REAL, ALONE, REMIND.

31 words, yet at the same time portraits, concealed «art lovers», such as Sol Lewitt, Jonathan Monk, Leo Castelli, Yvon Lambert, Anne Rorimer or René Denizot.

One Billion Colored Dots, a masterful work of art, consisting of 25 volumes, gathers one billion colored dots: red, blue, orange, violet, green, yellow, maroon, blue green, light green, ochre, light purple, light grey, dark blue, pink, yellow green, purple, light orange, red violet, light yellow, silver, light blue, grey, gold, white, black. The work is printed in as many colors as there are volumes: each volume has its own color. Robert Barry has produced the work One Billion Dots in 1968, and a first variance of the original work only counts up to a million, with One Million Dots, the artist’s contribution in the 25 pages of the famous Xerox Book by Seth Siegelaub. It took 40 years before the « colored » version of One Billion Dots published by mfc-michèle didier could see the light. A demonstration of time passing by, from the creation of the work until its multiple productions, from a billion black dots to a billion colored dots.

The film One Billion Dots, also produced in 2008, jointly with One Billion Colored Dots, proposes a digital and monochrome version of the same project. The accumulation of points is oriented towards the edification of sense. Quantity constitutes the work.