Bartha Contemporary

It is a great pleasure to present works by three contemporary artists at Tefaf Showcase. We choose to exhibit pieces by Jill Baroff (USA b. 1954)), Clay Ketter (USA/SE b. 1961), and Susan Morris (UK b. 1962) at this unique platform, all long-term collaborators of our gallery.

The works exhibited are the product of extensive research and are made using various media. The sources for some of these works teether on the edge between science and art, evolving from large data sets. Indeed all works capture an element of time and are informed by natural phenomena.

Jill Baroff's hand-made drawings on Japanese gampi plot tidal data, which the artist sources on the internet. Like fingerprints of geographic locations and highly deceptive to atmospheric changes, these works showcase the movement of water across the planet. Determined by periodic changes in gravitational forces, geology and the atmosphere, they are visual representations of continuous fluctuations that otherwise go largely unnoticed.

Susan Morris tapestries depict sound recordings modulated using algorithms or display data collected using an actiwatch, a tool employed by chronobiologists. The artist arranges the data following principles set out by scientific methodology or structures outlined by John Cage in his lecture on nothing. The computerised data was then entered into the first binarily programmed industrial machine: a jacquard loom, which produced these sensual tapestries.

On closer examination, the abstract appearance of the photographic works by Clay Ketter reveal their source in the real world. Capturing a moment between nature reclaiming the ground and human redevelopment, these works depict the remains of holiday homes swept away by Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast of the United States. Made using an analogue camera and void of any digital manipulation, these momentary photographic records can be viewed as a modern Pompeii.