Jimmy Robert Vis-à-vis accompanies the first large-scale U.S. solo exhibition of the Brussels-based artist’s work. One of Europe’s most dynamic artists, Jimmy Robert works in a range of media—including photography, sculpture, film, video, and collaborative performance—gently breaking down divisions between two and three dimensions, image and object. Robert’s work is guided by an interest in the body and the poetic potential of ephemeral materials such as paper and tape. Creating form through gesture, he draws inspiration from artists such as Yvonne Rainer and Yoko Ono. His exploration of moving bodies, crumpling paper, and repetitive gestures, in works that feature actions such as a hand tearing tape from skin or fingers rubbing a text, has come to define him as an artist of touching. Using multiple paper stocks and sizes to dramatic effect, this volume—the second in the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s Monographs series—features the artist’s recent work while surveying his oeuvre to date with essays by curator Naomi Beckwith and art historian Marie de Brugerolle, along with a dialogue between Robert and artist Ian White.

Published by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Wire-O-bound paperback with folded cover, 134 pages. 8 x 10 in.

Detail Jimmy Robert, Untitled, 2005. Archival inkjet print, 17 3/4 x 17 3/4 in. (45 x 45 cm). Courtesy of the artist.