Robert Gober: Slides of a Changing Painting

A key early work from Gober addressing the themes of metamorphosis and sexual difference

This artist’s book by American artist Robert Gober (born 1954) takes as its point of departure his rarely seen 1982–83 work of the same name—a slide presentation documenting the yearlong evolution of a single painting. Made against the backdrop of cultural conservatism and an unchecked health epidemic, 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. This book has been designed to replicate the experience of the original installation, with 89 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.