Sunday, October 7, 2012

Uta Barth: Photographer Group Project

Uta Barth

Field #23, 1998. Acrylic lacquer on canvas, edition 3/3, 90 1/4 x 132 inches
(228.6 x 335.28 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Purchased with funds
contributed by the Photography Committee, 98.4629. © Uta Barth

Uta Barth, Untitled (aot 1),from the series "...and of time", 2000,
Courtesy Uta Barth, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York,
ACME, Los Angeles
Uta Barth is becoming one of my favorite photographers of all time because the images she creates gracefully compels the viewer to see the formal elements of fine art. The presence of light create directional lines of high interest to the viewer. Strong positive and negative spaces often are a confused variety of the depth in space. These characteristic identifiers make interesting compositions. 

 Overall, I am pretty confused about the direction of this group project. If we are just recreating a biography and some interesteing facts, there is a lot of material available (i.e. someone's been there and done that). If the direction is supposed to be self-guided, I think it might be cool to recreate some of our own photographs inspired by Uta Barth. Maybe each of us could pick a series of hers and copy it in our own environment. Instagram could make it a very simple process!

#ahs275Here is a quick demo. The color could use work and I know the sunlight is
completely absent, but for giving it 15 minutes I don't think I did too bad
recreating Uta Barth's two images from "...and of time" as seen above.
(Q:How much does a hipster weigh?)
????????????????????????
(A: An instagram)

I was able to find many interviews where Barth formally critiques and explains her processes. It was too time consuming to find a portfolio page online, but the credentials listed on renowned museums' websites was sufficient. I thought I would share one Q&A I thought summed up Barth's work (from the series "...and of time").

Cheryl Kaplan: Why is anonymity important in your photographs?

Uta Barth: Well, I don’t want the work to be about me, so I carefully edit out autobiographical information. In 1998 I made a decision to only make photographs in my house because I wanted to find another way to empty the subject out of my images, to separate meaning and subject. Seeking something to photograph made no sense anymore, but I still had to point the camera somewhere, so I point it at what’s familiar and everyday that it’s almost invisible. I don’t want to become the subject I’ve tried so hard to erase.

 

 Collected Works:

Interviews:

Links:

 

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