David Robbins

David Robbins is an American writer and artist based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Robbins gained initial recognition for his photographic work that directly addressed the art context in New York City in the 1980s, notably his series “Talent” (1986), in which he depicted well known artists, including Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons, and Jenny Holzer, through headshots akin to those employed by aspiring actors. Towards the end of the 1980s Robbins became increasingly disillusioned with the art world and turned his attention to comedy, focusing on the “comic object,” which prioritizes comic rather than aesthetic intent, and coining the term “concrete comedy” to describe a materialist comedy of objects and gestures. These interests have led to the staging of live events, the creation of videos for television, and the creation of “comic objects” for exhibitions, all of which demonstrate Robbins’ guiding interest in entertainment culture. In this time Robbins has also written extensively, tracking and critiquing the absorption of art into the culture industry and calling for a new mode of independent imaginative production he terms “high entertainment,” which marries art’s experimentalism with mainstream entertainment’s accessibility in the new digital age. Robbins participated in the group exhibitions Objects in Collision at The Kitchen in 1985, and in 1986 screened video work as part of the Video Viewing Room series Face, Fear, and Fascination. For more information visit: http://www.davidrobbinsartist.com/