Fotografien

Die New Yor­ker Pho­to­gra­phin Tina Bar­ney wur­de in eine wohl­ha­ben­de Fami­lie der Ober­schicht Neu-Eng­lands hin­ein­ge­bo­ren und besaß den Mut und das Durch­hal­te­ver­mö­gen, die­se Her­kunft in eine künst­le­ri­sche Lang­zeit­stu­die über ihre eige­ne Welt zu ver­wan­deln. Sie macht uns zu inti­men Beob­ach­tern gefühls­be­la­de­ner gesell­schaft­li­cher Ritua­le — Hoch­zei­ten, Weih­nachts­es­sen und Cock­tail­par­ties — und zu Zeu­gen der Suche nach ech­ten Bezie­hun­gen. Schmerz und Ein­sam­keit sind auch hier zuhau­se. Die male­ri­schen ‘tableaux vivants’ haben meh­re­re Bedeu­tungs­schich­ten, die sich in sorg­fäl­ti­gen, manch­mal gestell­ten Kom­po­si­tio­nen ent­hül­len. Tina Bar­ney ver­kör­pert die sel­te­ne Ver­bin­dung von Künst­le­rin und visu­el­ler Anthropologin.
mit Tex­ten von Tina Bar­ney & Andy Grundberg
180 Far­be & 20 S/W Abb.
1. Auf­la­ge 1997

Zustand: Schutz­um­schlag an einer Stel­le leicht eingerissen.

New York pho­to­gra­pher Tina Bar­ney was born to an upper-class East Coast fami­ly. Ever sin­ce she star­ted to take pho­to­graphs in 1974 she has docu­men­ted and exami­ned her family’s life. As an inti­ma­te obser­ver, the view­er wit­nes­ses the intri­caci­es of social ritu­als-wed­dings, Christ­mas din­ners, and cock­tail par­ties. Bar­ney cap­tures the ten­si­on bet­ween the polis­hed sur­faces and the inten­si­ty of the fee­lings underneath.

“The­re is a con­tra­dic­tion in my pic­tures that says, I feel clo­sed out, distant, unab­le to enter into that per­son or place. But as that per­son or place pulls you into the space, at the same time I want to show my desi­re and will to approach the insi­de, to get clo­ser, to con­ta­ct, com­mu­ni­ca­te to touch the inte­rior. I want to get insi­de becau­se it’s the only thing that’s worthwhile. The insi­gni­fi­can­ce of human bein­gs ter­ri­fies me, and that fee­ling of doubt, rea­son for exis­tence, keeps me on a con­stant search for sub­s­tance, depth, validity.”

Barney’s pho­to­graphs are bril­li­ant­ly com­po­sed, den­se­ly laye­red tableaux signa­ling her fami­lia­ri­ty with clas­sic pain­ting. The view­er can never be qui­te sure whe­ther the images are care­ful­ly posed arran­ge­ments or per­fect­ly cap­tu­red moments of “real life.” Barney’s astu­te play with arti­fice mir­rors social life its­elf-part arti­fice, part spon­ta­n­ei­ty. In this com­pre­hen­si­ve mono­graph Tina Bar­ney is reve­a­led as a rare com­bi­na­ti­on of artist and visu­al anthropologist.