David Robbins
Encyclopedia
David Robbins is an artist
and writer
who was one of the first to investigate the art world
's entrance into the culture industry
.
His work reflects on the spectacle
, the transformation of the position of the artist in the visual system, and areas of overlap between art, entertainment, and comedy. As an artist he is best known for his 1986 work entitled Talent
, eighteen "entertainer's headshots" of contemporary artists including Cindy Sherman
, Jeff Koons
, Jenny Holzer
, Allan McCollum
and others, as well as The Ice Cream Social, a project comprising installations
, performances, a novella, a TV pilot, and numerous other media that in its totality represents an emphatically American version of some of the exhibition strategies employed by artists associated with relational aesthetics
. As a writer he is known for his essays about entertainment
and comedy
.
, Robbins was employed in the early 1980s by Andy Warhol
, George Plimpton
, and Diana Vreeland
, during which years he educated himself about art by interviewing emerging artists such as Richard Prince
, Jenny Holzer
, Keith Haring
, and Allan McCollum
. Robbins began exhibiting his art in the mid-1980s in New York, where he was closely associated with the neo-conceptual Gallery Nature Morte
.
In contrast to the Pictures
generation (his immediate predecessors who maintained a critical distance from the mass advertising
and entertainment imagery that fascinated them), Robbins pioneered an approach to art that unapologetically embraced entertainment culture. His first solo exhibition
, The David Robbins Show (1986) featured "guest" collaborators such as Richard Prince, Clegg & Guttman, and Jennifer Bolande. He gained wider recognition for photographic works such as Talent and The Art Dealers’ Optical Tests (1987), which treated the art context as material for comedy. He actively promoted what he termed the "comic object" -- an object made with sophisticated comic rather than aesthetic intent. In later works such as The German Reunification Public Sculpture Competition (1991) and The Ice Cream Social (1993–2008), which curator Hans Ulrich Obrist
has cited as representing "an expanded exhibition model," Robbins looked at political content through a comic lens. In other works of the same period, such as the Situation Comedies (1994–2003), he emptied his comedy of all narrative
and topicality, creating objects that explored comedy as a subject in itself.
Robbins is also known for the theory and practice of what he refers to as "alternatives to art." Concrete Comedy is his term for a kind of non-fiction
comedy of objects and gestures that surfaced in the early decades of the 20th century, first evidenced in the work of German
comedian Karl Valentin
and French
artist Marcel Duchamp
, and was subsequently recurringly manifested culture-wide, in fashion, architecture, music, film, television, art, advertising, and design. In November 2006 Robbins' "Concrete Comedy" essay appeared in Artforum
magazine. From 1996-2006 he taught a course in the subject at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, during which period he wrote Concrete Comedy: An Alternative History to Twentieth-Century Comedy, the first comprehensive consideration of materialist comedy. The book was published in 2011 by Pork Salad Press. His other "alternative to art," known as High Entertainment, argues for a category of imaginative production that balances art's emphasis on form-discovery with entertainment's emphasis on accessibility. Born of the new production and distribution opportunities of the digital era, High Entertainment encourages the "independent imagination" (Robbins prefers this term to "artist") to apply art's experimentalism to mainstream forms such as commercial film and television.
, Purple
magazine, and Art issues. His books include Concrete Comedy; The Velvet Grind: Essays, Interviews, Satires 1983-2005, which collect several of his early interviews; a novella, The Ice Cream Social; High Entertainment; The Dr. Frankenstein Option; Foundation Papers from the Archives of the Institute for Advanced Comedic Behavior; and The Camera Believes Everything.
(2009–present), a broadcast television show created with Bobby Ciraldo
and Andrew Swant
.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
who was one of the first to investigate the art world
Art world
The art world is composed of all the people involved in the production, commission, preservation, promotion, criticism, and sale of art. Howard S. Becker describes it as "the network of people whose cooperative activity, organized via their joint knowledge of conventional means of doing things,...
's entrance into the culture industry
Culture industry
Culture industry is a term coined by critical theorists Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer , who argued in the chapter of their book Dialectic of Enlightenment, 'The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception' ; that popular culture is akin to a factory producing standardized cultural goods...
.
His work reflects on the spectacle
Spectacle (Situationism)
The spectacle is a central notion in the Situationist theory developed by Guy Debord. Guy Debord's 1967 book, The Society of the Spectacle, attempted to provide the Situationist International with a Marxian critical theory...
, the transformation of the position of the artist in the visual system, and areas of overlap between art, entertainment, and comedy. As an artist he is best known for his 1986 work entitled Talent
Talent (artwork)
Talent , is a photographic work by David Robbins comprising eighteen photographs that depict contemporary artists such as Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer, Robert Longo, and fourteen others using the headshot portraits long-utilized by the entertainment industry.To make the 8 x 10,...
, eighteen "entertainer's headshots" of contemporary artists including Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman is an American photographer and film director, best known for her conceptual portraits. Sherman currently lives and works in New York City. In 1995, she was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. She is represented by Sprüth Magers Berlin London in and Metro Pictures gallery in...
, Jeff Koons
Jeff Koons
Jeffrey "Jeff" Koons is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces....
, Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer is an American conceptual artist. Holzer lives and works in Hoosick Falls, New York.-Education:...
, Allan McCollum
Allan McCollum
Allan McCollum is a contemporary American artist who was born in Los Angeles, California in 1944, and now lives and works in New York City. He has spent over forty years exploring how objects achieve public and personal meaning in a world constituted in mass production, focusing most recently on...
and others, as well as The Ice Cream Social, a project comprising installations
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
, performances, a novella, a TV pilot, and numerous other media that in its totality represents an emphatically American version of some of the exhibition strategies employed by artists associated with relational aesthetics
Relational Art
Relational art or relational aesthetics is a mode or tendency in fine art practice originally observed and highlighted by French art critic Nicolas Bourriaud...
. As a writer he is known for his essays about entertainment
Entertainment
Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...
and comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
.
Career
After attending Brown UniversityBrown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, Robbins was employed in the early 1980s by Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, George Plimpton
George Plimpton
George Ames Plimpton was an American journalist, writer, editor, and actor. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review.-Early life:...
, and Diana Vreeland
Diana Vreeland
Diana Vreeland was a noted columnist and editor in the field of fashion. She worked for the fashion magazines Harper's Bazaar and Vogue and the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Born as Diana Dalziel, Vreeland was the eldest daughter of American socialite mother Emily Key Hoffman...
, during which years he educated himself about art by interviewing emerging artists such as Richard Prince
Richard Prince
Richard Prince is an American painter and photographer. Prince began appropriating photographs in 1975...
, Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer is an American conceptual artist. Holzer lives and works in Hoosick Falls, New York.-Education:...
, Keith Haring
Keith Haring
Keith Haring was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s.-Early life:...
, and Allan McCollum
Allan McCollum
Allan McCollum is a contemporary American artist who was born in Los Angeles, California in 1944, and now lives and works in New York City. He has spent over forty years exploring how objects achieve public and personal meaning in a world constituted in mass production, focusing most recently on...
. Robbins began exhibiting his art in the mid-1980s in New York, where he was closely associated with the neo-conceptual Gallery Nature Morte
Gallery Nature Morte
Gallery Nature Morte is an art gallery that deals predominantly in Indian contemporary art. It currenty has three locations, galleries in New Delhi, Gurgaon , and Berlin . Gallery Nature Morte is partners with Bose Pacia Gallery in New York.- History :The gallery's founder, Peter Nagy originally...
.
In contrast to the Pictures
Metro Pictures Gallery
METRO PICTURES is a New York City art gallery founded in 1980 by Janelle Reiring, previously of Castelli Gallery, and Helene Winer, previously of Artist's Space...
generation (his immediate predecessors who maintained a critical distance from the mass advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
and entertainment imagery that fascinated them), Robbins pioneered an approach to art that unapologetically embraced entertainment culture. His first solo exhibition
Art exhibition
Art exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...
, The David Robbins Show (1986) featured "guest" collaborators such as Richard Prince, Clegg & Guttman, and Jennifer Bolande. He gained wider recognition for photographic works such as Talent and The Art Dealers’ Optical Tests (1987), which treated the art context as material for comedy. He actively promoted what he termed the "comic object" -- an object made with sophisticated comic rather than aesthetic intent. In later works such as The German Reunification Public Sculpture Competition (1991) and The Ice Cream Social (1993–2008), which curator Hans Ulrich Obrist
Hans Ulrich Obrist
Hans Ulrich Obrist is a contemporary art curator, critic and historian of art. He is currently Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects at the Serpentine Gallery, London...
has cited as representing "an expanded exhibition model," Robbins looked at political content through a comic lens. In other works of the same period, such as the Situation Comedies (1994–2003), he emptied his comedy of all narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
and topicality, creating objects that explored comedy as a subject in itself.
Robbins is also known for the theory and practice of what he refers to as "alternatives to art." Concrete Comedy is his term for a kind of non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
comedy of objects and gestures that surfaced in the early decades of the 20th century, first evidenced in the work of German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
comedian Karl Valentin
Karl Valentin
Karl Valentin was a Bavarian comedian, cabaret performer, clown, author and film producer. He had significant influence on German Weimar culture...
and French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
artist Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
, and was subsequently recurringly manifested culture-wide, in fashion, architecture, music, film, television, art, advertising, and design. In November 2006 Robbins' "Concrete Comedy" essay appeared in Artforum
Artforum
Artforum is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art.-Publication:The magazine is published ten times a year, September through May, along with an annual summer issue...
magazine. From 1996-2006 he taught a course in the subject at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, during which period he wrote Concrete Comedy: An Alternative History to Twentieth-Century Comedy, the first comprehensive consideration of materialist comedy. The book was published in 2011 by Pork Salad Press. His other "alternative to art," known as High Entertainment, argues for a category of imaginative production that balances art's emphasis on form-discovery with entertainment's emphasis on accessibility. Born of the new production and distribution opportunities of the digital era, High Entertainment encourages the "independent imagination" (Robbins prefers this term to "artist") to apply art's experimentalism to mainstream forms such as commercial film and television.
Writing
Robbins was an early contributor to REALLIFE MagazineREALLIFE Magazine
Artist Thomas Lawson and writer Susan Morgan co-founded REALLIFE Magazine in 1979 as a publication “by and about artists.” The magazine’s first issue was made possible by an NEA grant in art criticism, awarded to Lawson through Artists Space...
, Purple
Purple (magazine)
-History:In 1992, Elein Fleiss and Olivier Zahm started the magazine Purple Prose as a reaction against the superficial glamour of the 1980’s; much as a part of the global counterculture at the time, inspired by magazines like Interview, Ray Gun, Nova, and Helmut Newton’s Illustrated, but with the...
magazine, and Art issues. His books include Concrete Comedy; The Velvet Grind: Essays, Interviews, Satires 1983-2005, which collect several of his early interviews; a novella, The Ice Cream Social; High Entertainment; The Dr. Frankenstein Option; Foundation Papers from the Archives of the Institute for Advanced Comedic Behavior; and The Camera Believes Everything.
Video work
Video work includes Lift (2006), which screened at the New York Video Festival; The Ice Cream Social (2004), winner of the Sundance TV Lab competition; and Something TheaterSomething Theater
Something Theater is an American television show created by Bobby Ciraldo, David Robbins, and Andrew Swant. The half-hour program has aired in Southeastern Wisconsin on The CW affiliate WVTV since February of 2009...
(2009–present), a broadcast television show created with Bobby Ciraldo
Bobby Ciraldo
Bobby Ciraldo is a filmmaker and web-based artist whose works include Hamlet A.D.D., William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet, the production of Frankie Latina's Modus Operandi, and a music video for Leslie and the Ly's called "Zombie Killer"...
and Andrew Swant
Andrew Swant
Andrew Swant is a writer and filmmaker whose works include Hamlet A.D.D. and William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet, as well as the production of Frankie Latina's Modus Operandi...
.
External links
- ARTBOOK interview with David Robbins regarding his Concrete Comedy book
- High Entertainment online book
- Artforum interview with Robbins regarding his Concrete Comedy concept
- Interview with Robbins regarding High Entertainment
- Interview with David Robbins regarding his television commercials for a Warhol show
- The Ice Cream Social novella
- The Velvet Grind book
- Artforum article about David Robbins' Ice Cream Social
- Forming Fun Discussion between David Robbins and Hans Ulrich Obrist published in X-TRA : Contemporary Art Quarterly