Andrea Robbins (born 1963 in Boston, Massachusetts) and Max Becher (born 1964 in Düsseldorf) are U.S.-based visual artists. They have worked collaboratively since they met at the Cooper Union in New York in 1984. They married in 1988.
Education Andrea Robbins received her BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art and then attended Hunter College School of Art, both in New York City. Max Becher received his BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art, and his MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.
Work Robbins and Becher employ photography, video and other digital media to document what they term "the transportation of place," situations in which one place or culture strongly resembles another distant one. Their conception of place often includes such notions as location in time, positions of ideology and cultural identity. Past subjects of their work have included German colonial towns in Namibia; Germans who dress as Native Americans; descendants of freed American slaves in the Dominican Republic; a Brooklyn Hasidic headquarters building that has been copied and rebuilt around the world; the relocated London Bridge in Lake Havasu, Arizona; the replication of Venice at The Venetian, Las Vegas; and the enduring culture of African American cowboys.
Exhibitions and reviews The work of Robbins and Becher has been exhibited and collected by art museums such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,The New York Times "The Guggenheim Sounds the Alarm: It Ain't Necessarily So" Accessed July 10, 2011 (New York, NY and Bilbao, Spain), the Whitney Museum of American Art,The Whitney Museum."The American Effect" Accessed July 9, 2011 (New York, NY), the Jewish MuseumThe Jewish Museum, New York. The Jewish Identity Project: New American Photography" Accessed July 11, 2011 (New York, NY), the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, IL.), the Museum of Contemporary PhotographyMuseum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago."Andrea Robbins & Max Becher: The Transportation of Place" Accessed July 9, 2011 (Chicago, IL), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (Barcelona, Spain),Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, List of artists from the MACBA collectionMaison européenne de la photographie (Paris, France), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum Kunstpalastgalerienvirtuell.de, "Künstlerpaar Andrea Robbins und Max Becher in Köln und Düsseldorf" Accessed July 10, 2011 (Düsseldorf, Germany), and the SK Stiftung Kultur (Cologne, Germany). Their work has been reviewed or featured in publications such as Artforum, Art in America, Art News, Blindspot Magazine,Blind Spot Magazine Issue 6."Andrea Robbins & Max Becher:The Oregon Vortex" Accessed July 10, 2011 October, Art on Paper, The New York Times,New York Times."ART IN REVIEW; Andrea Robbins and Max Becher Accessed July 4, 2011. The Washington Post,The Washington Post."Illustrating That Looks Aren't Everything" Accessed July 5, 2011 Frankfurter Allgemeine,Frankurter Allgemeine."Einmal Indianerhäuptling sein." Catrin Lorch, 2005 Die Zeit, Welt am Sonntag, and many others.
Books "Portraits,"University of Maryland Baltimore County, "Portraits" Accessed July 4, 2011. with essays by Maurice Berger, and Andrea Robbins and Max Becher, 2008, Publisher, University of Maryland Baltimore County, MA. "The Transportation of Place,"Aperture Press, "The Transportation of Place" Accessed July 4, 2011. with essays by Lucy Lippard and Maurice Berger, 2006. Publisher: Aperture Press, New York. "Brooklyn Abroad." with essays by Nora Alter and Rupert Pfab, May 2006. Publisher Sonnabend Gallery and Museum Kunstpalast. "Contact sheet 98: Andrea Robbins and Max Becher: German Indians and Bavarian by Law,"Light Work, "Contact sheet 98: Andrea Robbins and Max Becher: German Indians and Bavarian by Law" Accessed July 9, 2011 with essays by Gary Hesse and Jolene Rickard, 1998. Publisher: Light Work, Syracuse, NY. "Andrea Robbins and Max Becher,"Kanaal Art Foundation and de Vleeshal, "Andrea Robbins and Max Becher" Accessed July 10, 2011 with essays by Benjamin Buchloh, Catherine de Zegher, Everlyn Nicodemus, and Luc Lang, 1994. Publisher: Kanaal Art Foundation, Kortrijk and de Vleeshal, Middleburg, The Netherlands ASIN: B001QC688Y
Residencies and awards Artist-in-Residence, The Altos de Chavón Cultural Center Foundation, La Romana, Dominican Republic (affiliated with Parsons School of Design, New York) summer 1999 Grant Recipient Artists-in-Residence, Light Work Foundation,Light Work Foundation, "Light Work Chronology" Accessed July 10, 2011 winter 1995 Leopold Godowsky, Jr. Color Photography Award,Photographic Resource Center at Boston University "Godowsky Award Accessed July 10, 2011 2005 Cooper Union President's Citation for Art,Cooper Union President's Citation for Ar, "PRESIDENT'S CITATION: ART" Accessed July 9, 2011 2011
References
External links
Robbins/Becher at Sonnabend Gallery Robbins/Becher at Artnet