White Blind (Bright Red).White Blind (Bright Red) Photographs by Uta Barth Essay by an Tumlir Site Santa Fe 1606 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501 www.sitesantafe.org; martin@sitesantafe.org ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0970077475 $30.00 In Tumlir's essay titled "Uta Barth: Figures of Stasis stasis /sta·sis/ (sta´sis) 1. a stoppage or diminution of flow, as of blood or other body fluid. 2. a state of equilibrium among opposing forces. and Flux," he writes, "By purging her pictures of their ostensible Apparent; visible; exhibited. Ostensible authority is power that a principal, either by design or through the absence of ordinary care, permits others to believe his or her agent possesses. subjects, [Barth] has sought to redirect our attention to a kind of perceptual noise, that which intrudes all around: in the setting, the outlying objects, the air." In this "purging" of the subject, Barth's art photographs are quintessentially postmodern. To some, they might seem nihilistic ni·hil·ism n. 1. Philosophy a. An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence. b. A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. 2. in their austerity and spareness. The photographs are a series of leafless tree branches against a winter sky. But as Barth explains about her art work, she is not making a statement about nihilism nihilism (nī`əlĭzəm), theory of revolution popular among Russian extremists until the fall of the czarist government (1917); the theory was given its name by Ivan Turgenev in his novel Fathers and Sons (1861). ; rather she is trying to evoke awareness of perception. The tree branches can be seen as neural networks. Perception can in some ways be compared with the process by which a camera makes a picture. The depth and relevance of the intended artistic interplay with Barth's photographs depend on sophisticated understandings of psychology and physiology along with keen abilities in introspection, conception, and articulation. They also depend to some degree on inventive understandings of psychology and physiology--which inventions this artist tries to bring to birth. |
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