Jimmy Roberts’ work explores the political in viewing, questions established notions and opens up a reading in several directions. Recurring is how meaning creation takes place in the relationship between place, body and artwork, where all parts seem equally active. The work also asks questions about the preservation of a movement and how this can be presented in an exhibition context.
A central work in the exhibition is the installation “Descendances du nu” (2016). It includes objects, photography, performance, sound and text, and is based on Marcel Duchamp’s painting “Nude Descending a Staircase” (1912). Here Robert weaves in Sturtevant and Sherrie Levine, artist colleagues who have both also referenced Duchamp in their work. The installation also forms the scenography for the performance that is part of the work.
In his artistry, Jimmy Robert raises questions about representation, identity and gender – often with a starting point in an art or museum context. With subtle humor, melancholy and queerness, the artist tackles these complex subjects through a fragmented and open idiom. The works, where not least the body becomes a conceptual tool, are allowed to function both as independent entities and as components of a larger historical network.
