Viewing Record 4 of 359
Previous Record  Next Record
Switch Views: Lightbox | List

PHOTOGRAPHS
Barbier, Gilles
France (1965 - )
Perdu dans le paysage (avec slogan politique) [Lost in the Landscape (with Political Slogan)]
1996
Chromogenic color print
31 3/4 x 77 3/4 in. (80.6 x 197.6 cm) image and sheet size; 33 3/4 x 79 3/4 x 1/2 in. (85.7 x 202.6 x 1.3 cm) frame size
Gift of William and Ruth True
FA 2000.50

These sly and provocative photographs by French artist Gilles Barbier toy with our expectations of self-portraiture. Rather than satisfying us with a close-up of the artist's face and figure, Barbier frustrates this desire with the challenge of locating the figure of the artist in a vast cityscape. Significantly he creates his personal game of "Where's Waldo" in his native city of Marseille, a Mediterranean metropolis of immigrants and multiple languages. Once the viewer is successful in locating the artist, he or she is still frustrated in understanding what he has to say. Although the titles of these works promise political slogans, one can neither read Barbier's messages nor even verify their existence. The incongruity between the titles of the works and the viewer's expectations of their subject matter plays the visual against the verbal. This strategy is reminiscent of those employed by Marcel Duchamp, whose delight in paradox and visual ambiguity is crucial to Barbier's conceptual framework. Barbier's self-portraits might comment directly on the ineffectiveness of political critique or the power of an individual voice. They are also part of a larger philosophical interrogation of the notion of identity at the millennium, which has a particular inflection in Marseille's polyglot environment. -- Label copy for Gilles Barbier: Lost in the Landscape, December 2, 2002 to March 19, 2003. Compare to HAG Acc. # 2000.51.

These sly and provocative photographs by French artist Gilles Barbier toy with our expectations of self-portraiture. Rather than satisfying us with a close-up of the artist’s face and figure, Barbier frustrates this desire by virtually hiding himself in a vast cityscape. Of note, he stages this game of “Where’s Waldo?” in his native city of Marseilles, a Mediterranean metropolis of immigrants and multiple languages.

Once the viewer is successful in locating the artist, he or she is still frustrated in understanding what the artist has to say. Although the titles of these works promise political slogans, one can neither read Barbier’s messages nor even verify their existence. The incongruity between the titles of the works and the viewer’s perception plays the visual against the verbal. This strategy is reminiscent of that employed by Marcel Duchamp, whose delight in visual puns and intellectual riddles is a touchstone for Barbier’s conceptual framework. -- Label copy for Vortexhibition Polyphonica: Opus I, October 3, 2009 to February 9, 2010.

Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.