Email Page
del.icio.us
Facebook
DiggSee Through Me
February 1, 2006- March 18, 2006
Tracey Baran
Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects
535 W 22nd St Tracey Baran Room Of My Own (2005) |  Tracey Baran It's All Inside (2004) |  Tracey Baran Untitled (Darren Meets His Birth Family For the First Time) (2003) |
Our second one-person presentation of new works by Tracey Baran will feature twenty 30 x 40 inch color photographs, produced between 2002 and 2005. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue with seventeen color illustrations and autobiographical notes.
In the fall of 2004, Baran and a friend drove across the United States. For both women, the journey was one of self-revelation. For Baran it was also an artistic epiphany — the great American road trip in the tradition of Robert Frank and Lee Friedlander. But, in contrast to their distanced observations in black & white, Baran’s photographs are deeply personal, depicting a colorful, internal terrain in which even clichés (like the moonrise in New Mexico) acquire new emotional resonance.
Last year she began to produce the group of self portraits that form the centerpiece of this exhibition, her sixth solo show. Also on view are recent photographs of friends, family, and important places: her cousin Chris, covered in elaborate tattoos that he designed himself; her mother dressed as an Indian for Halloween (her family’s version of Thanksgiving); the demolition derby at a County Fair; an uncanny face-off between her father and brother; her friend Kristden, enshrouded in mist at Yellowstone Park.
Baran’s prosaic images combine formal clarity with narrative ambiguity. The exhibition shares its title with a recent photograph in which she appears in a passionate exchange, her lover’s hand obscuring an expression that could be either intense pain or pleasure. In the catalogue she writes:
"See Through Me is the title of a photograph that I made about intimacy — getting to know someone, opening up and learning to see through a second sense — the way blind people can by feeling with their hands. It’s basically what happens when I show my work — you see through me. You see what I see."
Tracey Baran was born in 1975 in Bath, New York, a small town in western New York State. She has lived in New York City since 1993, when she enrolled at the School of Visual Arts. She is currently participating in Speaking With Hands: Photographs from the Buhl Collection at the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao.
Art Reviews of See Through Me
| New York Times March 10, 2006 | Ken Johnson | "Because her photographs are intimately autobiographical and sometimes have a snapshot aesthetic, Tracey Baran will be compared to artists like Nan Goldin and Ryan McGinley. But what is more distinctive in her work is its cinematic quality. Her pictures are like stills from an artfully edited movie about her life...." |
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
|
 | |||||||||||||||||
|
© 2005-2008 chelseaartgalleries.com The information on this page is provided "as is", and might be incorrect, incomplete and/or out of date. The site owner makes no representation as to the accuracy of the information or its suitability for any purpose. The owner disclaims any liability for errors that may be contained therein. sitemap |
