Uta Barth

By Emma Henderschedt
Biography
Born in Berlin (1958)
Moved to United States as a teenager
MFA at University of California
The Gaze - first series of self portraits
Professor at University of California
To Draw With Light - most known series
with blinds and light.
Lights are the medium
Photographs the insignificant
To Draw With Light. (SCAD Museum of Art)
Technique & Style
Explore the nature of vision, how the camera sees the world vs. how the eye
sees the world.
Nondescript surroundings
Literal and metaphorical concepts of perception
Perception is key
Make viewer aware of his or her owns perceptional process
Light
14 years of photography just in her own house
Focus on minimalism
 In most photographs the
subject and the content are one
and the same thing. My work is
first and foremost about
perception.
-Uta Barth

Deep Blue Day (2012)

My work never directly addresses the
literal subject matter of the
photograph, but attempts to ask
questions about vision itself.
- Uta Barth

Field #23
 On the most obvious level, we all
expect photographs to be pictures of
something. We assume that the
photographer observed a place, a
person, an event in the world and
wanted to record it, point at it. There
is always something that motivated
the taking of a photograph. The
problem with my work is that these
images are really not of anything in
that sense.
- Uta Barth

The Ground #70

I keep trying to find ways to shift
the viewers attention away from
the object they are looking at and
toward their own perceptual
process in relation to that object.
The question for me always is:
how can I make you aware of your
own activity of looking, instead of
losing your attention to thoughts
about what it is that you are
looking at?
- Uta Barth Untitled
Untitled. 2010
Imitation
Shot
Technique for Imitation
Shoot during magic hours
Shutter speed 1/125 f-stop 6.3
Shutter speed 1/500 f stop 6.3
ISO 100
References

Uta Barth. McArthur Foundation, www.macfound.org/fellows/859/#photos.

Uta Barth. Uta Barth: Official Website, utabarth.net/.

Uta Barth. 28 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, www.artsy.net/artist/uta-barth.