It’s impossible to miss Robert Montgomery’s work. The Scottish-born conceptual artist and poet has been featured on public advertising billboards, impressive light installations, and had his words set afire in beautiful settings with his emotionally-charged romantic poetry.
“What interests me in working anonymously is that people encounter it without knowing its art”, Robert says. “They know it’s not advertising, and it’s not graffiti either and they do not need an art history knowledge to read it. I’m super-interested in the ordinary person at the bus stop getting on the bus to their job everyday and suddenly seeing this weird text. I’m interested in reaching those people. They are my primary audience.”
He was recently featured in the BBC4 documentary “Who’s Afraid of Conceptual Art” (see link below) and in November 2016 he was announced as a shortlisted artist for the National Holocaust Memorial in London. Montgomery opened a new exhibition: ‘Year of the Propaganda-Corrupted Plebiscites’ in London at theprintspace from 8th December – 13th December last year, with new work from recent international Biennales and public art festivals.
‘Year of the Propaganda-Corrupted Plebiscites’ is a powerfully nuanced journey into the current state of western consumerist culture with a nod to our post-Brexit/post- Trump moment. The exhibition comprises large-scale prints of Montgomery’s billboard poems, wall paintings, light pieces, fire poems and watercolours, and takes a poetic look at beauty, loss, hypocrisy and the feeling of longing for a deeper connection with the world around us.
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