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Slides of a Changing Painting

Slides of a Changing Painting is a new artist book by Robert Gober that takes as its point of departure the artist’s highly influential, yet rarely seen, early work of the same name—a slide presentation documenting a year-long evolution of a single painting. Presented at Paula Cooper Gallery in 1984 with three projectors and eighty-nine slides, the work showcased themes and subjects that would become central to Gober’s oeuvre and in hindsight, has come to be seen as a career-spanning lexicon for the artist’s practice. This artist book has been designed to replicate the experience of the original installation, with eighty-nine images dissolving into each other over the course of 368 pages, creating what Gober has referred to as the “memoir of a painting.” This is the first time that Slides of a Changing Painting has been showcased in its entirety in book form.

From 1982–83, Gober worked on Slides of a Changing Painting in his East 7th Street storefront, documenting the process as he repeatedly painted on a single Masonite board, reworking imagery or else starting over entirely. Motifs that would become important to his later sculptures and installations make their first appearances here, such as drains, pipes, flowing water, forests, lost garments, sinks, windows, and bare chests pierced with trees and waterfalls. His treatment of the human body here lays the groundwork for some of his most uncanny and surrealistic works. Made against the backdrop of cultural conservatism and an unchecked health epidemic that was rampant in the 1980s, Slides of a Changing Painting contains a bewildering mixture of dread and hope, with Gober’s queer identity and artistic sensibilities coming into remarkable focus—demonstrating a sense of vision that few artists have so early in their careers.

Robert Gober is an artist and sometime curator whose work has been exhibited since the early 1980s most notably in one person exhibitions at the Dia Art Foundation, New York, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Schaulager, Basel, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Fondazione Prada, Milan, Glenstone, Potomac and the Serpentine, London. He represented the United States at the Venice Biennale in 2001. His curatorial projects have been shown at The Menil Collection, Houston, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. He lives and works in New York and Maine.

368 pages
10.5 x 7 inches
Paperback
May 2025
ISBN: 9798988573623

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Editor: James Hoff
Designer: Bryce Wilner

E.V. Day

This postcard by E.V. Day is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

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4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
February 2018

Steve Dalachinsky

This postcard by Steve Dalachinsky is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
February 2018

Nathan Hylden

This postcard by Nathan Hylden is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
February 2018

Dave Muller

This postcard by Dave Muller is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
February 2018

Alice Tippit

This postcard by Alice Tippit is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
February 2018

Amy Yao

This postcard by Amy Yao is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
February 2018

Erica Baum

This postcard by Erica Baum is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
January 2018

Mika Tajima

This postcard by Mika Tajima is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
January 2018

Cary Loren

This postcard by Cary Loren is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
January 2018

Mónica de la Torre

This postcard by Mónica de la Torre is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
January 2018

Christine Tien Wang

This postcard by Christine Tien Wang is part of a series devoted to artists’ postcards initiated by Primary Information in the wake of the Trump Administration, as well as the social and political tumult that preceded it. Since the election, there has been a growing movement of citizens using postcards to voice their concern to their representatives. As such, the postcard is a media form that is vital to political and social engagement in the United States. It is also a form with a dedicated image space, and Primary Information feels strongly that images accompanying this civic engagement should be created by artists.

Each month, Primary Information commissions artists to produce postcards in an ongoing open edition. All postcards are priced at cost.

Postcards have long been a part of the artist book tradition, with artists engaging with the form for well over 50 years now. While Primary Information sees this project as a continuation of that very important tradition, the organization also sees the need to double down on this form as a political space embedded with the urgency, diversity, and complexity of voices that are the hallmark of our times. Who better to do this than artists?

Find your national and state representatives

4 x 6 inches
Postcard
Open edition
January 2018