Bob and Roberta Smith. I should be in charge

I Should be in Charge is the first monograph showing the full breadth of the colourful and explosive contribution of artists Bob and Roberta Smith to the contemporary art scene.
Bob and Roberta Smith are well renowned for their humorous approach to art with a political and social message. This complete collection of Bob and Roberta’s work includes their signs, installations, radio shows and group works. Bob and Roberta Smith continue to create art that is relevant, that provides a message to the contemporary art scene and is enjoyed by many.

Working through the conviction that art is a necessary and potent tool of democracy, this duo has made sign-writing key to their creative production. Bob and his alter ego, Roberta, use a playful attitude towards their work, which dismantles conventional barriers between elitist art and its viewer, and develops a language that uses humour as a weapon to voice concerns that are pertinent to, and addressed to all without exclusions. Slogans, painted on odd bits of timber or planks of wood display their humorous take on contemporary political issues. Bob and Roberta Smith produce art that operates in the social sphere.

In keeping with the irreverent attitude that informs the Smiths’ own identities, their artworks masquerade behind a facade of gay simplicity in order to lure the viewer through playful comedic effects, making their subsequent confrontation with the deeper underlying issues at stake unavoidable. From comedic to political, obvious to revolutionary, I Should be in Charge reflects the multifaceted guises of the ‘singularly’ outspoken Bob and Roberta Smith.