Uta Barth
15 May - 19 Jun 2008
UTA BARTH
May 15 - June 19, 2008
Andréhn-Schiptjenko proudly presents the European première of Uta Barth’s most recent body of work, Sundial, which constitutes the artist’s fifth solo-exhibition at the gallery. The opening takes place in presence of the artist on Thursday May 15, 5-8 pm and the exhibition runs through June 19.
In each new series Barth simultaneously expands and refines her investigation of the nature of vision, always pushing the camera to show us more about the way we see. Repetition and the serial accumulation of images play an important role in her work, as does its physical aspect as object as well as image.
The title Sundial refers to the artist’s use of her own home as a place of observation and documentation of how the light moves throughout the house. It is a series of photographs taken over many months, tracing the light of dusk when the last rays of light begin to erase themselves as they cast their last and fading shadows and patches of light onto walls, ceilings and floors. The images simultaneously convey a sense of stillness and of continual slow and fleeting movement.
As in previous series, such as the images of light streaming into her livingroom in ...and of time, 2000, or the view looking out of the same window in nowhere near, 1999, the use of a repeated view offers the possibility to explore duration through subtle details that might otherwise be missed.
Throughout her career Uta Barth has challenged the convention that photographs are made in response to important or spectacular events, beautiful views or significant descriptions of the human condition. Instead, she explores visual perception itself, and how meaning is located in the activity of looking. Her work brings to our attention scenes and objects that habitually go unnoticed. Peripheral vision, quick glances, prolonged staring, optical after-images – all of these visual phenomena are her primary investigation.
Uta Barth (Born Berlin 1958) lives and works in Los Angeles. Her museum exhibitions include the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Guggenheim Museum (2003), New York and Bilbao; The Tate Modern, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1995 solo); The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1997 solo); The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (1989); The Getty Museum, Los Angeles. A mid-career survey of Barth’s work was presented by the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle and the MCA in Houston. Recent exhibitions include, Uta Barth: 2005-2006, Franklin Art Works, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2006, and Keeping Time, at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand in 2008 – this is an upcoming show. A comprehensive book on the history of her work is planned for 2009. She is the recipient of the 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship and the 2008 USA Artist Award.
May 15 - June 19, 2008
Andréhn-Schiptjenko proudly presents the European première of Uta Barth’s most recent body of work, Sundial, which constitutes the artist’s fifth solo-exhibition at the gallery. The opening takes place in presence of the artist on Thursday May 15, 5-8 pm and the exhibition runs through June 19.
In each new series Barth simultaneously expands and refines her investigation of the nature of vision, always pushing the camera to show us more about the way we see. Repetition and the serial accumulation of images play an important role in her work, as does its physical aspect as object as well as image.
The title Sundial refers to the artist’s use of her own home as a place of observation and documentation of how the light moves throughout the house. It is a series of photographs taken over many months, tracing the light of dusk when the last rays of light begin to erase themselves as they cast their last and fading shadows and patches of light onto walls, ceilings and floors. The images simultaneously convey a sense of stillness and of continual slow and fleeting movement.
As in previous series, such as the images of light streaming into her livingroom in ...and of time, 2000, or the view looking out of the same window in nowhere near, 1999, the use of a repeated view offers the possibility to explore duration through subtle details that might otherwise be missed.
Throughout her career Uta Barth has challenged the convention that photographs are made in response to important or spectacular events, beautiful views or significant descriptions of the human condition. Instead, she explores visual perception itself, and how meaning is located in the activity of looking. Her work brings to our attention scenes and objects that habitually go unnoticed. Peripheral vision, quick glances, prolonged staring, optical after-images – all of these visual phenomena are her primary investigation.
Uta Barth (Born Berlin 1958) lives and works in Los Angeles. Her museum exhibitions include the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Guggenheim Museum (2003), New York and Bilbao; The Tate Modern, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1995 solo); The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1997 solo); The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (1989); The Getty Museum, Los Angeles. A mid-career survey of Barth’s work was presented by the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle and the MCA in Houston. Recent exhibitions include, Uta Barth: 2005-2006, Franklin Art Works, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2006, and Keeping Time, at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand in 2008 – this is an upcoming show. A comprehensive book on the history of her work is planned for 2009. She is the recipient of the 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship and the 2008 USA Artist Award.