Bob and Roberta Smith – real name Patrick Brill OBE RA – is an artist, activist, writer, author, musician, supporter of art education and one of the UK’s foremost keynote speakers. Famous around the world for his brightly coloured slogans, he is a passionate advocate for art as a vital tool of democracy. 

His show at MAAB features a series of works on the bond between Italy and the United Kingdom in the aftermath of Brexit. Art is between us is a mix of punk culture and excoriating criticism of the choices made by recent British governments, filled with ideas on how the UK can avoid isolation from Europe. 

The artist installed the exhibition at the Milanese gallery with the help of curator Massimiliano Scuderi. It takes the form of a Wunderkammer, a cabinet of curiosities, filled with found objects ranging from old appliance doors to café tables and various other everyday items. These items serve as physical manifestations of the hand-painted slogans, object correlatives that imbue the space with a calming, loving atmosphere. The overall effect is that of a subversive matchmaking agency.

Inspired by a meeting with another great artist, James Lee Byars, who at the 1993 Venice Biennale gave him one of his gold stickers bearing the slogan ‘Your presence is your best work’, B&R Smith does not aim to define public art so much as bring art to the public. Since then, he has applied this approach – which aligns closely with Nicolas Bourriaud’s definition of operative realism – in a variety of fields, using art as a tool for the creation of collective works.

Another iconic work that has influenced the exhibition is Le Grand Verre (The Large Glass 1915–1923) by Marcel Duchamp, hailed as a masterpiece of contemporary art by critics worldwide. Like Duchamp’s work, which metaphorically places the naked bride at its centre and depicts the bachelors as machines, this collection emphasises the freedom of both the artist and the viewer: the artist to create and the viewer to interpret.

Other solo exhibitions by Bob and Roberta Smith include shows at Fondazione Zimei in Pescara and Rome (2023), the Tate Modern in London (2022), the Panacée in Montpellier and MoMA PS1 in New York. His work has also been featured in group exhibitions like Nicolas Bourriaud’s Altermodern, as well as shows at the ZKM in Karlsruhe and San Francisco’s CCAC (the latter curated by Ralph Rugoff), among others.