Lorne Jackson finds the artist ‘Bob and Roberta Smith’ is a man with a burning message about the frightening times we live in.

On hearing the names Bob and Roberta Smith, it’s unlikely that you will immediate imagine something avant-garde.

There must be a Mr and Mrs B & R in every town and city across the nation, and their everyday life probably isn’t that remarkable.

But not the Bob and Roberta Smith I’m chatting to in Walsall. This Bob and Roberta are no couple; they – or rather it – is one man.

Bob and Roberta Smith, the funky artist. And Bob – as I’m going to call him from now on, to prevent further confusion – has made a name for himself with a series of challenging and witty works.

The artist in residence at The New Art Gallery Walsall since 2009, we meet to discuss his two latest projects for the town.

First, he has installed one of his own pieces, The Bonfire, on the top floor of the gallery.

The spectacular construction was originally shown as part of an exhibition in Amsterdam in 2009, where artists from round the world were invited to respond to the question, “What is normal?”

Bob came up with The Bonfire, which consists of a number of his previous works, along with floorboards and placards painted with fragments of overheard conversations, or punchy phrases.

Bob’s other Walsall project is an exhibition he has curated, entitled The Life of the Mind: Love, Sorrow and Obsession. Both are exciting concepts, though before discussing either of them, one pertinent question must be dealt with first.

What’s with the bonkers name, Bob?

“I suppose it’s just a wacky name,” he chuckles. “It really started because I was doing work with my sister at one stage, who was also an artist.

“But she’s now decided that art is elitist, and she’s retrained as a group psychotherapist, leaving me with the name.”

What inspired Bob to build The Bonfire?

“When I was a kid I watched the documentary series, The World At War. And there was this graphic at the beginning, when the title of the show would burst into flames. The series was about the Second World War, so obviously that was a reference to Kristallnacht, book burning and the 1930s.

“It was a powerful image of something that I find very frightening. Which is culture and creativity being destroyed. I’m terrified of ideas and opportunities going up in flames.”

Britain in the 21st century certainly isn’t under fascist occupation. However, Bob does see a link between coalition cuts to the arts sector and Nazi book burning.

“I think it might be a bit over the top to see the Government’s cuts as a fascist sort of thing. But it is frightening what the Government is doing to culture and education.

"And although they’re not setting light to things that have already been made, by making such drastic cuts, they are stopping things being made in the first place. I don’t want to overamplify that point, but it does feed into this image I have of creativity going up in flames.”

The Bonfire is certainly a grouchy work. The slogans and phrases scrawled on the boards are contentious, to say the least.