Bob & Roberta Smith @ The Grey Gallery

Firstly, Bob and Roberta Smith is one man, and not, as the dual name suggests, a twee husband and wife combo. The pseudonym, he tells me, is a playful critique of the artist as mythical persona. He arrived at the name around the time he was making work about being an unsuccessful artist – an “art loser”, as he calls it.

Having been included in the Tate triennial exhibition, Altermodern, earlier this year, failure can no longer be said to define his work. Asked how he felt about being included in this innovative show at Tate Britain, he expressed his outrage at the British media’s typically anti-intellectual reaction to the curator’s courageous efforts to “define a moment”.

For his upcoming show at The Grey Gallery during this year’s Edinburgh Art Festival, Bob and Roberta Smith will be responding directly to the media’s coverage of contemporary art. Using his trademark sign-writing techniques, he has recreated in full an art review by the Guardian tennis correspondent, Steve Bierley. Covering 9 panels and measuring 11 meters in total, the painting is a homage to Bierley’s ability to portray enthusiasm and excitement about his subject matter – qualities, according to the artist, too often lacking in art writing today.

A review of Louise Bourgeois’ exhibition at the Pompidou Centre, Paris, Bierley’s piece focuses on the inherent differences between tennis and art. Bob and Roberta Smith first read the article when it was published a year ago in the Guardian’s G2 supplement. He was enthused by how it evoked a sense of child-like discovery. “It really spooked him,” he says of the exhibition's effect on the startled Bierley. “He thought it should come with a health warning”.

Whether Bob and Roberta Smith should come with a health warning remains to be seen. Nonetheless, I look forward to reading the reviews. Perhaps one of them will be good enough to become art.