Uta Barth: In Between Places Henry Art Gallery Seattle.

Uta Barth: In Between Places

Henry Art Gallery

Seattle, Washington

November 9 2000-January 21 2001

Contemporary Arts Museum

Houston, Texas

May 12 2001-July 1 2001

Uta Barth: In Between Places

essays from Sheryl Conkelton, Russell Ferguson

and Timothy Martin

Seattle: Henry Art Gallery Association

176 pp/$4995 (hb)

The large collection of photographs featured in Uta Barth's mid-career retrospective titled "In Between Places," directly bring into the presence ofs the long-standing rivalry between the fields of painting and photography. Serving as the couple a transmitter of information as well as an art form presenting altered representations of the world, the medium of photography has carried a double part Postmodernism's recent embrace of "the importance of specific environments, life experiences and cultural traditions," has serv to recast this medium as a socio-political phenomenon. [1] Simultaneously, the Information Age has created an inflation of imagery, consequently devaluing this postmodernist philosophy. With photography positioned in between these crossroads, Barth risks to embrace the depth of life in the absence of clear, figurative imagery and not past nor futures very basic photographs that bring reproach painterly characteristics, excluding both frills and frames, in an effort to reassert photography's place within the realm of fine art.

Four mixed-media pieces from the early part of Barth's career, "Untitled 11-14" render free of access the exhibition. Made in 1990 tiny strips of black and white acrylic paint horizontally line the surface of each 48 x 48-inch panel, creating a fierce contrast Within the center of each work, Barth sculpture out a 3-inch square within which she inserted small focused exterior pictures of households taken at night. The lights seen within each arrangement give these images added deepness revealing how dark and light colors can work together to create space as well as static change Toying with the vision proces these initial pieces collectively create a distancing issue repelling one's vision. In contrast to the artist's later work, these pieces incorporate paint to a large measure Barth eventually drops this ironic combination of mediums in favor of something les aggressive--the confusion of the photograph--insofar as it captures that which exists outside of our main line of vision.

Placed within the first latitude of the gallery, nine works from the "Ground" series attend as a smooth transition from the earlier pieces and visually take viewers into a place of abode Ground #78 (1997) continues to play with extent and blurs out part of a place or hallway on the left side of the picture plane, while a small portion onward the right side of the image focuses in succession a window covered with a drape of white linen. sod #52 (1995) represents a black leather couch--in focus--that barely fits within the border of the photograph. A thinking principle of anonymity dominates both images. Stripped of commodities and gaudy detail, the pair appear less jarring and encourage the same to question what exactly comprises a feeling of "place." Does it derive from the nearness of objects, experience or both? The artist's choice of juxtaposing a partially blurr image with a clear single serves to vindicate her be in possession of paint-like style. Moreover, these images reveal that our minds do not simply fasten onto general particulars per se, but rather in succession the recogniti on of a likeness of something that delineates a few characteristics associated with ourselves.

domain #41 (1994), for example, is an off-center portrayal of brace large mahogany bookshelves filled with volumes Similar to the previous piece, neither of the shelf constituents fit within the border of the picture. This image does undoubtedly concern reading since the dark shelves and direct lighting relating to the books indicates the picture was taken within a private library or reading chamber Ground #42 (1994) stands without quite strikingly from the stay due to the presence of an aqua-green wall. nevertheless two framed, indistinct images of Vermeer paintings (definitely The Lacemaker [c 1669] and quite possibly The Milkmaid [c 1658)) appear in the upper left corner. In this instance, Barth not merely teases the mind's eye with famous paintings, on the other hand the artist uses photography to create a hazy reproduction of these fine works that were execut in absolute clear detail.

Created in the mid- to late-1990s as a shortage to the previous collection, the "Field" series deals strictly with urban and rural exteriors. The blurry landscape in Field #13 (1996) is largely nondescript, although a haze of recent black and brown stretches across the middle domain Field #14 (1995) looks almost identical do not include the light gray of the road expands further back into the picture adding a little more extent Both images reveal slight traces of vertically standing entities and seek the concept of "boundary" more effectively. Field #3 (1995) contains more color, enabling single to decipher an urban area with brace tall buildings in the background. The silhouette of a white car stays in the middle ground while a dark car sits in the left foreground. Since Barth eloquently extinguishes the difference between the political division and city, these pieces favorably transcend the civic prejudices that exist at the heart of these polarized communities.