120:(2011) he identified and advanced other categories of imaginative endeavor. In 2000 he withdrew from active participation in the art world in order to discover how his imagination performed when not formatted to produce art, and began using the term "independent imagination" in place of "artist." Subsequently relocating to
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comedy. The book was published in 2011 by Pork Salad Press. His other "alternative to art," known as High
Entertainment, argues for a category of imaginative production that balances art's emphasis on form-discovery with entertainment's emphasis on accessibility. Born of the new production and
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Robbins is also known for the theory and practice of what he refers to as "alternatives to art." Concrete Comedy is his term for a kind of non-fiction comedy of objects and gestures that surfaced in the early decades of the 20th century, first evidenced in the work of German comedian
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he aligned his work with contexts and formats historically forsaken by the avant garde, positing the suburb as a frontier for art production and creating TV commercials for galleries. In 2016 he produced "Theme Song For An
Exhibition," a pop song created with musicians
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generation (his immediate predecessors who maintained a critical distance from the mass advertising and entertainment imagery that fascinated them), Robbins pioneered an approach to art that unapologetically embraced entertainment culture. His first solo
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distribution opportunities of the digital era, High
Entertainment encourages the "independent imagination" to apply art's experimentalism to mainstream forms such as commercial film and television.
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For three decades, in artworks and writing David
Robbins has promoted a frank, unapologetic recognition of the contemporary overlap between the art and entertainment contexts. His work
208:(1987), which treated the art context as material for comedy. He actively promoted what he termed the "comic object"—an object made with sophisticated comic rather than
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Gasparina, Jill, “Le
Cauchemar de Greenberg: Sur la massification de l’art contemporain,” Les Cahiers du Musee National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Autumn, 2007
200:(1986) featured "guest" collaborators such as Richard Prince, Clegg & Guttman, and Jennifer Bolande. He gained wider recognition for photographic works such as
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224:(1994–2003), he emptied his comedy of all narrative and topicality, creating objects that explored comedy as a subject in itself.
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220:(1993–2008), Robbins looked at political content through a comic lens. In other works of the same period, such as the
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represents an emphatically
American version of some of the exhibition strategies employed by artists associated with
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Progressively evolving away from the prevailing model of the professional contemporary artist, in his books
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449:"On Talent," in Likeness: Artists' Portraits of Artists, CCAC/Wattis Institute, 2004
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and others, is widely credited with announcing the age of the celebrity artist, and
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Interview with David
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Foundation Papers from the
Archives of the Institute for Advanced Comedic Behavior
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ARTBOOK interview with David
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Artforum interview with
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Discussion between David Robbins and Hans Ulrich Obrist published in
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Concrete Comedy: An Alternative History to Twentieth-Century Comedy
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Concrete Comedy: An Alternative History of Twentieth-Century Comedy
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magazine. From 1996–2006 he taught a course in the subject at
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337:(2009–present), a broadcast television show created with
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as pioneering the "expanded exhibition." In its totality
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Accrochage: An Interview with David Robbins by Matt Cook
323:(2006), which screened at the New York Video Festival;
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The Velvet Grind: Essays, Interviews, Satires 1983–2005
93:. His work is in many museum collections including the
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Artforum article about David Robbins' Ice Cream Social
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The German Reunification Public Sculpture Competition
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Interview with Robbins regarding High Entertainment
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353:'s Art + Comedy channel. That same year he created
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483:Obrist, Hans Ulrich, "Good Humor Man,"
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680:People from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
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347:Concrete Comedy: An Introduction
567:Interview with David Robbins,"
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212:intent. In later works such as
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665:American contemporary artists
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349:premiered in 2014 as part of
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327:(2004), winner of the
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187:In contrast to the
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232:and French artist
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252:materialist
216:(1991) and
151:Andy Warhol
127:Evan Gruzis
116:(2009) and
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526:Art issues
365:References
315:Video work
309:Accrochage
307:. In 2020
277:Art issues
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131:Serpentine
59:Jeff Koons
470:Artscribe
424:Flash Art
355:TV Family
210:aesthetic
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51:headshots
34:art world
540:Artforum
486:Artforum
329:Sundance
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573:, 2007
351:MOCAtv
303:; and
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