Exhibition Review: Uta Barth

Uta BARTH. Sundial (07.8), 2008. Diptych, mounted color photographs. 30 x 76 inches (overall). 30 x 37 1/2 inches (each). Edition of 6; 2 APs.

Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles.

Written and Photo Edited by Wenjie (Demi) Zhao

Copy Edited by Robyn Hager

Uta Barth’s latest exhibition at the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York City is a contemplative exploration of the nature of perception and experience. Barth’s work has always focused on the act of looking and how we construct meaning from visual stimuli. This exhibition consists of two parts: Uta Barth’s most recent work, ... from dawn to dusk on ground floor space, and Barth’s fundamental and exemplary works since 1995 in the upstairs gallery space. Through a series of large-scale paneled photographs, Barth invites the viewer to explore the ways in which our surroundings shape our understanding of the world around us.

One of the most striking works in the exhibition is “Sundial (07.8),” a diptych of two mounted color photographs. Each photograph depicts a corner of a room, where sunlight falls and glass glimmers in shadows, like the texture of a blend of cashmere and crystal, warm and bright.

What is most intriguing about this work, however, is what is not depicted. There are no subjects, no people, no landmarks to provide context or orientation. Only light, color, and the passage of time guide our gaze and bodily experience. The viewer is left with a sense of infinite space, an emptiness that invites contemplation and reflection.

Uta Barth. Installation view, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, March 4 – April 22, 2023. Photo by Pierre Le Hors.

Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles.

Barth is known for her use of blurred and indistinct imagery, which is evident in many of the works on display. The photograph is deliberately out of focus, with the objects appearing as vague shapes and forms. The effect is dreamlike and hazy, as if the viewer is peering through a veil of mist. By obscuring the details of the scene, Barth encourages the viewer to focus on the play of light and shadow, the subtle shifts in color and forms, and the interplay between the interior and exterior spaces.

In her latest work, ...from dawn to dusk, Barth focuses on the intersection of Southern Californian light with the architecture of the Getty Center. She traces the changing light at one location on the Richard Meier-built campus for the entirety of the year, using a GigaPan to capture over 64,000 images. The resulting time-lapse video sequence shows the progression of this movement of light. As the view repeats from panel to panel, there are subtle changes in light as well as more dramatic blurring and color shifts, invoking inverted optical afterimages and other visual phenomena that arise from starting at a fixed point for a prolonged period of time.

Uta BARTH. ...from dawn to dusk (July), 2022. Mounted color photographs (pigment prints). Dimensions overall: 32 7/8 x 146 inches. Edition of 6, 2AP.

Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles.

One of the most intriguing aspects of Barth's work is the way in which she challenges our assumptions about photography as a medium. Rather than using the camera as a means of capturing reality, she uses it as a tool for exploring the nature of perception itself. By manipulating light, color, and focus, she creates images that are both abstract and evocative, inviting the viewer to reflect on the act of seeing.

Uta BARTH. white blind/bright red (02.6), 2002.Mounted color photographs. 21 1/4 x 54 1/4 x 1/2 inches (overall). 21 1/4 x 26 5/8 inches x 1/2 (each). Edition of 5; 2AP.

Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles.

Another work that stands out in the exhibition is "In the Light and Shadow of Morandi (17.12).” The photograph depicts a series of vases and bottles arranged on a windowsill, each photographed from a slightly different angle and with different lighting conditions. By presenting multiple views of the same subject, Barth highlights the variability of perception and the ways in which our understanding of an object can shift depending on the context in which it is presented. The title of the work references the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, whose still-life paintings often depict ordinary objects in muted tones and soft light. Like Morandi's paintings, Barth's photographs are meditations on the beauty of the everyday, and the ways in which the act of looking can transform the mundane into the sublime.

Uta BARTH. In the Light & Shadow of Morandi (17.12), 2017. Face mounted, raised, shaped, Archival Pigment print in artist frame. 48 3/4 x 52 3/4 inches. Edition of 6; 2 APs.

Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles.

Pivoting around the concept of “visual perception,” Barth showcases her artistry through “empty” images that possess painterly qualities. The trajectory through Tanya Bonakdar’s gallery space leads to limitless explorations centered on a nuanced investigation of visual experience, free from narrative. Through these incidental and fleeting moments captured by Uta Barth’s lens, we deconstruct the conventions of visual representation and create the new rhythms of seeing.

For more information on the exhibition, visit Tanya Bonakdar Gallery’s website.