I always took photographs. I photographed a lot of trees, by the way, which is another image I used often in my work, the tree image.
Robert BarryI have been in competitions for commissions. I've won most and lost some. Mostly, I've won.
Robert BarryThere's a kind of poetic aspect to inert gas. And remember, first of all, they were completely unknown a hundred years earlier. We just didn't know about them. And then when they were discovered in the atmosphere, the idea that this is a material that would breathe in and exhale and becomes part of us for a while made it even more intriguing. The names, the Greek names, are interesting, too - if you translate neon, xenon and so forth are kind of interesting.
Robert BarryI like the work hanging free in the frame. I don't like too much frame around it but I like a little breathing space around the piece.
Robert BarryAnd style, by the way, is a very important thing. It is like your signature, your handwriting or it is something that you develop that is your way of presenting yourself and also your way of looking at what art - of how to make art.
Robert BarryTeaching I realized took up a lot of my time. I was a kind of a teacher that spent time with students, spoke to them after class, tried to help them out. I'd talk with them personally about their work and try to get out of them what they were thinking about, forcing them to thinking seriously and not just falling back on all the ideas that they had picked up someplace. And so I took my job teaching very seriously and that - as a result, it took up a lot of time.
Robert Barry