Robert Montgomery

Robert Montgomery (born 7 July 1972) is a Scottish poet, artist, and sculptor based in London, known for creating site-specific installations that combine light and text. He is also recognized for his "fire poems," where poetic messages are displayed using flames. Montgomery’s work is influenced by a "melancholic post-Situationist" tradition, and he often uses public spaces to create art that challenges conventional perceptions.

Early career and education Robert Montgomery was born in Chapelhall, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 1972, to David and Janette Montgomery. At 16, he was accepted to study fine art at the Edinburgh College of Art.

Montgomery earned a first undergraduate degree in painting and later obtained a Master of Fine Arts. While still students, he and John Ayscough applied for a grant from the Scottish Arts Council for their project, Aerial '94. They were awarded £40,000, but the grant was nearly withdrawn because the grant was not intended for students. Andrew Nairne (then Visual Director at the Scottish Arts Council) supported the aspiring artists, and the project proceeded with the help of the grant.

From 1995 to 1997, Montgomery was the Core Program Artist in Residence at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston Texas.

Early in his career, Montgomery experimented with minimalist sculptures with elaborate poetic titles. He eventually shifted his focus to combining verbal and visual elements. Initially, Montgomery wrote poems on buses and walls with spray paint, aiming to emulate graffiti artists who made the city a "free space of diverse voices."

In 1999, Montgomery moved to London, where he wrote for the magazine Dazed & Confused.

Work Often installed without authorisation in industrial and urban locations, Montgomery's installations explore themes of power, love, and human kindness through sparse language and dramatic visuals. These text-based conceptual pieces are described as recycled sunlight pieces, billboard pieces, fire poems, woodcut panels, and watercolors. Montgomery's poetry offers commentary on contemporary life and affirms his personal and philosophical beliefs, which he describes as Situationist.

Montgomery participated in the 2011 Venice Biennale and represented the UK at the first biennale in India, The Kochi-Muziris Biennale, in December 2012. He has exhibited in Europe and Asia, including outdoor light installations at the former US Air Force base at Tempelhof. The first monograph of his work was published by Distanz, Berlin, in 2015.

Process and inspiration Montgomery's initial inspirations included East London graffiti artists, the poetry of Philip Larkin, the philosophy of Guy Debord, and the French student protesters of the May 1968. He became interested in the Situationist tradition while following the writing of Roland Barthes and Jean Baudrillard during his time at Edinburgh College of Art. Montgomery describes his creative process as random and unpredictable: "You quite often get stuff at like 2 o'clock in the morning and kind of see what you've got. I quite like that process". and the Anna Jill Lupertz Gallery in Berlin.

Personal life Montgomery lives in London with his wife, Greta Bellamacina, an actress, poet, and filmmaker. They have three children.