| PRESS
RELEASE
FEB. 7 - MARCH 9, 2002
BARBARA
BACHNER
CAMOUFLAGE
OPENING
RECEPTION:
THURSDAY | FEB 7TH,
2002 | 6-8PM
Gallery @ 49 is pleased to present Camouflage,
a mixed media installation by New York artist
Barbara Bachner opening on February 7, 2002.
Featuring some of the artist’s most recent
paintings, sculpture and assemblage, as well
as selections from an earlier acrylic on canvas
series entitled "Buried Dreams", the
exhibition deals with two interlocking themes:
The transformation power of objects viewed out
of their normal context, plus the ability of
the human consciousness to disguise the deepest
truths of an individual's life.
Camouflage is fundamentally the art of disguise,
concealment, subterfuge and hidden agendas.
The camouflage material on the first level of
the gallery was made in East Germany during
the Cold War, a period known for its unsettled
and potentially disastrous possibilities. During
this time, explains Bachner, a worldwide war
seemed imminent and people continued to function
in daily life - much as we do today - by using
mental protective coloration. In this context,
the netting is a reminder of all wars of this
century, as well as a metaphor for our instinct
(the instinct of the subconscious) to assume
protective coloration to enable us to believe
we are in control, even in times of danger and
chaos. The shoes that "walk" across
the camouflage net are the artist's own shoes,
worn and experienced. But modeling paste and
photo emulsions of natural phenomena, images
taken in wild settings, render them generic,
rather than individual. The footprint reliefs
on the other walls are a permanent record of
the transient marks left by our steps.
Since 1999, Bachner has been "coloring"
her shoes with hidden messages that echo with
past experiences, a literal "walking back"
through her own life. The quotations in the
exhibition on the sculptures and on the walls
are from the artist's journals and dreams of
the last 25 years, as well as from authors whose
work offers psychological insight, such as Jane
Austen, who observed and recorded an entire
society from her vantage point of a protected
spinster. Texture and dimensionality are used
by the artist as a metaphor for the intricate
layering of the human mind. In actually producing
the work, Bachner relies on the process of layering,
revealing and obscuring, accumulation, alteration,
change and the ability to welcome elements of
chance. Pieces like the domed shoe sculptures
and the pink army boots carry subversive messages
about gender but also elicit smiles, which is
part of the artist's aim to evoke responses
in the viewer, both personal and idiosyncratic,
so that she/he will reflect on the tragic and
comic aspects of his/her own existence.
"Camouflage"
will be on display February 7 - March 9, 2002
at Gallery @49, 322 West 49th Street (between
8th and 9th Avenues). A reception for the artist
will be held Thursday, February 7 from 6 to
8PM. Gallery@49 can be reached by subways E,
C to 50th St. or N, R to 49th St. Hours: Tuesday
- Saturday 12 noon - 6PM and by appointment.
For additional information or visual material
please call Monica Rotaru at (212) 664 1534
or E-mail info@gallery49.com
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