Uta Barth (Artist Report/Research)

Uta Barth uses photography to examine the differences between photographic and visual perception - what the human eye sees and what the camera lens captures. Barth's photographs are rarely grounded in the figurative and often lack a foreground subject. Rather, her images are out of focus, blurry, and cropped. In the absence of a clear object or landscape, atmosphere and light become her subjects.


Barth's acclaimed series of photographs include Ground and Field, the first in which she focused her camera on unoccupied space to create colorful photographic blurs. Her 2007 series, Sundial recorded the effects of light at different times of day and times of year in her home. Though devoid of concrete subjects, these works demonstrate her mastery of composition and balance.


I was initially drawn to Barth from her light refraction photos which I found very interesting because of the simplicity within the photograph which was shot very professionally in a way that looked clean and detailed. I then looked at other projects Barth has done and instantly liked the manual focus project where the photo is blurry, but the subject is still visible, similar to another photographer that I have researched and shoots in the same style, Bill Armstrong.


http://www.artspace.com/uta_barth