(5) - Uta Barth

The photographer I chose to blog about this week is also one I chose to do my "Place" presentation on. Uta Barth is a contemporary photographer. She was born in Berlin, but now lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Most of her photographs are out of focus or oddly framed. Such experimentation with this depth of field, framing and use of being in and out of focus is consistent throughout her work.


Much like we discussed in class, perhaps the reason why many of her shots are out of focus was to take emphasis away from what was actually in the shot and put more emphasis on the space between. Air. It's in every picture we've ever seen, but no one ever suggests it. That's what makes Uta Barth's work less descriptive and more suggestive. It's a very interesting twist on photography because our eyes are so accustomed to seeing exactly what the picture represents. Little do we think to focus on the what can't be seen.


Another topic we discussed was the passage of time. I love how she represents that in some of her diptychs; this one in particular. Sure, it's just a picture of shadow and light, but it also represents movement and maybe even touches on the notion that all things are ephemeral. That's how this particular work makes me feel as well as the first photo at the top. Things just pass on by. It's just a matter of time until they've passed and gone on to someplace else.

It took a bit of time to grasp some of the things Uta Barth is trying to communicate with her viewers, but once I understood it a little bit more, I really began to like her work more and more, and actually came to appreciate it. Too often I just look at a photograph and think, "Man, there's nothing to this. What's the point?" But maybe if I, or we, could dig more into the thoughts and concepts of these artists, we could also gain something from their very own mindset. I really like that.

(4) Lyndon Wade

Lyndon Wade is a photographer that creates a sort of narrative in each of his images, or series of images. His digital artistry illuminates his ability to create such narratives. These seem to create a story. What that story is, awesomely enough, it dependent on what you make it.

Although original photography without digital enhancements can create narratives, being able to change or manipulate photographs adds extra emphasis and allows the artist to create whatever they want. Whether it creates a storyline the author is trying to depict themselves or whether he or she wants to create something that allows the viewer to make their own storyline is now available to them. This is exactly what Lyndon Wade is doing.

Each subject is "in a kind of suspended animation" as his website states. Each image is quirky, humorous, strange, confusing, and sometimes even scary. How each person perceives these is a bit different. Since the images are in such a "suspended animation", you just know that each subject has a thought, or perhaps many thoughts going on at once. You almost have to wonder what's going on in their heads. And what about the artist? The subject and subject matter is almost always strange in some way, or strangely arranged. I can't help but wonder if Lyndon Wade himself is either just a very creative fellow or very disturbed. Maybe he's both. Nevertheless, his work seems to evade your comfort zone and pushes you to make assumptions of your own. Very nice.

(3) Loretta Lux

The artist I chose this week is Loretta Lux. Ever since we lightly perused her works in class, they have really stuck out in my mind as being almost scary, but also fascinating. They're portraits, but they're not average portraits. They employ you to look deeper.



The works of Loretta Lux are, like I said, a bit scary while also being fascinating. I don't just look at the children and think, "My goodness, theses are beautiful children." At least those aren't my first thoughts. Instead, I see very plain faces with little background. Nothing distracts my eye. They're simple. The children look like maybe they've suffered, yet survived, horrible events. It's as if everything has gone cold and all the happiness in the world has been sucked out. You don't want to look at it too long, and if you do (for me at least) I feel like they can see into my soul.

Perhaps this is why they evoke more than one emotion. They're children. Innocent and pure. Yet, you look at them and every question in the world comes to mind. I want to know who they are and who they belong to. Loretta Lux also puts an interesting feature on her subjects. Their bodies are not anatomically correct. Their heads seem twice as big as they should be. Also, the heads she uses don't always quite match the body on which it sits. Why is that? I'm not sure what sense that makes, but maybe that's the point. I'm not sure. Doing this definitely makes you look harder at the subjects and, for me, wonder what it is that they want. Their blankness consumes my every thought when I look at them. I never have an answer for them. Just questions.