THEIR STORY

Bob & Bob began their multi media art career in 1974 while attending the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. For the next 10 years they worked almost exclusively as an Art Team, producing drawings, paintings, sculptures, performances, happenings, short films, songs, and more. In addition to their wry political observations, Bob & Bob brought a much needed sense of humor to the early world of Performance Art and Conceptual Art. Their wild inter-media performances attracted huge crowds of new art fans and are legendary for their excitement.

Their drawings and paintings have been exhibited across America and abroad. In 2006 Bob & Bob were honored in the Pompidou Centre exhibition “LA: Birth of an Art Capital” (Paris, France), and in 2011, their work was featured in several exhibitions initiated by the Getty Museum’s “Pacific Standard Time” initiative which chronicles the history of California art.

Bob & Bob’s music and audio pieces have been produced by PolyGram/Polydor Records, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), High Performance Records and their own label MITB (Money In The Bank) Records. In addition, their short, 8mm films and videos have been featured in film festivals nationwide and abroad and broadcast on Public
Broadcasting Stations across the country.
Their early work was chronicled in the 1980 Astro Artz book “Bob & Bob: The First Five Years” by Linda Frye Burnham with a forward by Llyn Foulkes. And in1986, Otis/Parson Galleries mounted a retrospective exhibition of Bob & Bob’s work, with catalog essays by Adolpho Nodal, Peter Frank and Kristine McKenna.

Since the mid-80’s, Bob & Bob collaborations have been few, but both Bobs have continued making art on their own as Paul Bob and The Dark Bob and always looking forward to an opportunity to collaborate as BOB & BOB.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

SELECT SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 1986 OTIS/PARSON EXHIBITION CENTER, Bob & Bob: A Retro- Selective 1975 –
  • 1986, Survey Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA (catalog essay by Peter Frank introduction by Adolpho Nodal, Essay by Peter Frank, Kristine McKenna interview with Bob & Bob)
  • 1982 MARIANNE DESON GALLERY, Bob to Bob, Chicago, IL
  • 1981 ESPACE GALLERY, Ten Bad Indians, Los Angeles, CA
  • UPSTAIRS GALLERY, The Southwest Skies, Tryon, NC
  • WPA GALLERY, American States, Washington, D.C.
  • 1980 VANGUARD GALLERY, Forget Everything You Know Part II, Los Angeles, CA
  • 1979 SWOPE GALLERY / ART GARDEN, Are You Experienced?, Venice, CA
  • LOS ANGELES INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Performance Drawings
  • 1978 RUTH S. SCHAFFNER, From Bunny Steaks to Bankers, Los Angeles, CA

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2011 MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, LOS ANGELES, “Under The Big Black Sun”. Catalog by Paul Schimmel, Los Angeles, CA (part of the Getty Museum’s “Pacific Standard Time” initiative).
  • LA GOES LIVE: PERFORMANCE ART IN CALIFORNIA: 1974-82, LOS ANGELES CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS, Curated by Elina Kevorkian, Los Angeles, CA (part of the Getty Museum’s “Pacific
    Standard Time” initiative).
  • 1998 PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART, “Teams”, Philadelphia, PA
  • 1990 ZONA ARCHIVE, Firenze, ITALY. Enregistrement Sonores D’ Artistes. Traveled to museums and libraries in Italy, Germany, Spain and Finland.
  • 1989 BOULDER CENTER FOR THE VISUAL ARTS, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Boulder, CO (The Dark Bob)
  • 1984 MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Los Angeles. Territory of Art (Paul Bob Town)
  • MEDIARE GALLERY, Genova, ITALY (catalog)
  • 1983 CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, The Comic Spirit of Art, Long Beach, CA
  • MEDIA STUDY CENTER, Traveling Show, Buffalo, NY (catalog)
  • DUCHESSA DI GALLERIA, Group Show, Genova, ITALY
  • 1982 AMERICAN GALLERY, Invitational Self-Portraits, Los Angeles, CA
  • AMERICAN GALLERY, Behavioral Patterns, Los Angeles, CA UNIVERSITY OF CALIF., Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.), International Visual Music Festival
  • WPA GALLERY, Lately In L.A., Washington, D.C.
  • 1981 MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, California Performance Art, Chicago, IL
  • DOWNTOWN GALLERY, Young Turks, Los Angeles, CA
  • TORTUE GALLERY, Performance Artists Exhibit, Los Angeles, CA
  • L.A. INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Humor In Art, Los Angeles, CA (catalog)
  • 1980 CRAFT AND FOLK ART MUSEUM, The Mask as Metaphor, Los Angeles, CA
  • LONG BEACH MUSEUM OF ART, Video ’80, Long Beach, CA
  • BERKELEY MUSEUM OF ART, Video ’80, Berkeley, CA (catalog)
  • 1976 LOS ANGELES INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Imagination

SELECTED PERFORMANCES BY BOB & BOB – 1975 – 83

  • 1983 INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL, Rotterbobs, (representing the United States was Bob & Bob, Chris Burden, Johanna Went and James Lee Byers), Rotterdam, HOLLAND.
  • 1981 WPA (Washington Project for the Arts), Across America, Washington, D.C.
  • TORTUE GALLERY, Across America, Los Angeles, CA
  • 1980 L.A.C.E. GALLERY, Here’s the News, Los Angeles, CA
  • WEST HUBBARD GALLERY, Nature’s Perfect, Animals are Perfect, What are Humans?, Chicago, Ill
  • ON THE BOARDS, Discotak, Seattle, WA
  • LA MAMELLE, INC., Russia Needs Help, San Francisco, CA
  • 1979 THE KITCHEN, The Fab Two, New York, NY
  • LOS ANGELES INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Forget Everything You Know
  • 1978 LOS ANGELES INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Sex Is Stupid
  • 1977 RUTH S. SCHAFFNER GALLERY, Brace Yourself For Action, Los Angeles, CA
  • 1976 LOS ANGELES INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, The Fab Two
  • 1975 LOS ANGELES INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, F.B.I. Bobs
  • 1978-75 – Various unannounced performances in the streets. Notably: Club d’
  • Arte (1975), Rodeo Beach (1976), Oh Great, Now What? (1976), Deals (1976 thru ’78), It’s All Over (1977), We Must Be In The Wrong Place (1977), Just In From The Midwest (1977).

BOB & BOB DISCOGRAPHY – 1976 – 84

  • 1984 WE’RE ALL LUCKY. Cassette tape. Produced by MOCA (The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles) as part of the Territory of Art (Paul Bob Town). Distributed Nationwide by MOCA.
  • 1983 WE KNOW YOU’RE ALONE b/w WE’VE BEEN SEEING THINGS, 12 in.EP and cassette. Produced by PolyGram/Polydor Records, New York, NY. Major U.S. distribution.
    • ROTTERBOBS, Cassette tape. released twice:
      International Performance Art Festival, Lantaren Venster –
    • Cassette distributed in the Netherlands only.
      High Performance – The Record, Artists Doing Songs, dbl LP.
      National Distribution.
  • 1981 ACROSS AMERICA, 12 in. LP. A continuous sound collage from the audio portion of performance by the same name. Distributed nationally by M.I.T.B.
  • Records and Printed Matter, New York, NY.
  • 1978 SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE, 12 in. LP. 14 original songs. Distributed nationally by M.I.T.B. Records.
  • 1976 BOB & BOB – THEIR GREATEST HITS, 12 in. LP. 56 short cuts of Bob & Bob getting “hit”. All spoken dialog. M.I.T.B. Records. Unavailable.

BOB AND BOB FILMS AND VIDEOS – 1975 – 2009

  • THURSDAY MORNING BOBS (1982)
  • HERE’S THE NEWS (1980)
  • NATURE IS PERFECT, ANIMALS ARE PERFECT, WHAT ARE HUMANS, WHO ARE BOB & BOB (1980)
  • TUESDAY MORNING BOBS (1979)
  • A VISIT WITH BOB & BOB (1978)
  • A BRIEF HISTORY OF BOB & BOB (1976)
  • ON THE SCENE (1975)
  • DRAWINGS FOR A POET with Lewis MacAdams

BOB AND BOB GUEST LECTURES – 1975 – Present

  • MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
  • ARTBOOK @ HAUSER WIRTH GALLERY, Los Angeles
  • ART CENTER COLLEGE OF DESIGN, Pasadena, CA
  • OTIS/PARSON SCHOOL, Los Angeles, CA
  • CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS, Valencia, CA
  • UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Berkeley, CA
  • UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, Boulder, CO
  • UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, Denver, CO
  • KANSAS CITY ART INSTITUTE, Kansas City, MO
  • BOOKSPACE (artbook store), Chicago, IL
  • HALLWALLS, Buffalo, NY
  • THE ARCADE (gallery), Cleveland, OH
  • CONTEMPORARY MEDIA STUDY CENTER, Dayton, OH
  • CAGE GALLERY, Cincinnati, OH
  • THE UPSTAIRS GALLERY, Tryon, NC
  • THE ATLANTA COLLEGE OF ART, Atlanta, GA
  • CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER, New Orleans, LA
  • UNIVERSITY ART DEPT., Washington, D.C.
  • SWAIN SCHOOL OF DESIGN, New Bedford, MA

 

SELECT BOOKS AND CATALOGS

  • BOOKS

  • BOB & BOB: THE FIRST FIVE YEARS, by Linda Frye Burnham. Introduction by Llyn Foulkes. 100pp. with 40 color reproductions. Published by Astro Artz, Inc., Los Angeles, 1980

  • BOB & BOB: A RETROSELECTIVE 1975-1986, Text by Kristine McKenna, Peter Frank and Adolpho Nodal. 50pp with 28 color plates. Text by Peter Frank. Published by Otis/Parson, 1986

  • BOB & BOB: 40 MONTHS/40 STORIES,  Essay Andrew Berardini, Notes Llyn Foulkes, MITB Press/Artbook@Hauser Wirth, 2016

  • CREATING THE FUTIURE: ART AND LOS ANGELES IN THE 1970’S, by Michael Fallon, Counterpoint Press, 2014

  • PERFORMANCE ARTISTS TALKING IN THE EIGHTIES. Edited by Linda M. Montano, University of California Press, 2000

  • ARTSPEAK: A GUIDE TO CONTEMPORARY ART: 1945-PRESENT, Edited by Robert Atkins, Abbeville Press, NY

  • CATALOG LA: 1955 to 1985, Chronicle Press 2007

  • MAKING WET: THE MAGAZINE OF GOURMET BATHING, by Leonard Koren, Imperfect Publishing 2012

  • PERFORMANCE ANTHOLOGY, Edited by Carl Loeffler and Nancy Frank. Published by Contemporary Arts Press, San Francisco, CA, 1985

  • YOUNG TURKS, By Stephen Seemayer, Published by Astro Artz Inc., Los Angeles, 1981

    CATALOGS

  • L.A. BIRTH OF AN ART CAPITAL 1955-1985. , Edited by Catherine Grenier Published by Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, 2006

  • L.A. RISING: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ARTISTS BEFORE 1980 Published by the Getty Research Institute and the California International Arts Foundation,. Lyn Kienholz (Author), Barbara Isenberg (Preface), Elizabeta Betinski (Editor), Corinne Nelson (Editor), 2010

  • UNDER THE BIG BLACK SUN: CALIFORNIA ART 1974-1981 Essays by Paul Schimmel, Lisa Gabrielle Mark, Frances Colpitt, Peter Frank and Thomas Crow, Published by MOCA, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2011

  • LACE: THE LIVING ARCHIVE: Selected Publications & Print Ephemera from the Lace Archives 1978 2008 Published by Lace (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), 2010. Edited by Liz Kotz

  • COLLABORATION LABS: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ARTISTS IN THE ARTISTS SPACE MOVEMENT, Alex Donis, 18th Street Arts Complex, Pacific Standard Time, 2011

  • PUBLIC SPIRIT, 1980, catalog. Int’l Performance Art Festival Organized by Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Highland Art Agency and High Performance Magazine

  • HUMOR IN ART, Essay by John McCowsky. Published by Media Center, Buffalo, NY. 1983

  • PERFOTIJD, 1983, catalog. Int’l Performance Art Festival. Organized by Lantaren Venster. Essay by W. Van Kempen. Published by Lantaren Venster, Rotterdam, Holland.

  • ASSESSORATO ALLA CULTURA, 1984 and 1986, catalog. Published by Duchessa di Galleria, Genova, Italy.

    NOVELS

  • CAPTAIN SQUID AND THE TENTACLE ROOM, Michael McCall, Fabrik Press, 2020

  • AN ARTIST FOR PRESIDENT, Susanna Dakin, Hyphen Books, 2011

  • Two Performance Artists Kidnap Their Boss and Do Things With Him, Scotch Wichmann, Freakshow Books, 2014