Normal Bob: Pray For Satan

Curated by Becka Jean Marsh

Artists: Normal Bob

May 2020

Pray for Satan is the first online exhibition to map thirty years of artwork by Normal Bob Smith (Robert Hain), whose works in a variety of media provoke uncomfortable questions regarding religion, freedom of speech, sexual predators, exploitation, and offbeat kinks. Pray for Satan asks how Normal Bob’s skill for stimulating debate reflects the messiness of contemporary discourse more generally: What is too risqué to say? Is anything too sacred for satire? Why are we, as a society, afraid to discuss certain issues? Channeling the power of punk, Normal Bob’s controversial artworks challenge normativity and together form an important case study in radical individualism, religious criticism, and contemporary art thriving outside the mainstream.