Most of the criticism of my work was pretty good, but occasionally it would not be. And I just sort of felt that they absolutely didn't get what I was doing. It was their limitations on what they thought art should be or what they thought my work should be in relation to earlier work or whatever.
Robert BarryAnd the mind actually does generate electrical currents - very weak ones and not necessarily ones that can be picked up by anyone else.
Robert BarryI try not to manipulate reality... What will happen, will happen. Let things be themselves.
Robert BarryWhen you present works of art, one thing I've learned is that if you're lucky - [Laughs] - there will be those few people who, shall we say, get it? Really become engaged, become moved by it in their own way. You cannot control what other people are going to think about it.
Robert BarryThe first place I try to go when I have free time is the museums. I'm a big museum person.
Robert BarryHeidegger wrote a book called Was Ist Das Ding - What Is a Thing? which was kind of interesting and influential to me, as a matter of fact. It's a small paperback, which I read. It's about the nature of thingness; what is it? It's a very penetrating analysis of that, and I think a rather influential book. I know other artists who have read it and come up with it.
Robert Barry