Originally from Norway, Bjarne Bare is an internationally exhibited artist currently based in Los Angeles, California. Bare’s approach to photography is conceptual, offering a complex, dynamic visual that stands in contrast to the ‘decisive moments’ that are often portrayed in traditional photography. Bare received his BFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo in 2013 and an MFA from the University of California (UCLA) in 2017. He co-foundered the Oslo gallery MELK in 2009 together with Behzad Farazollahi, and is a publisher behind Comerkiosk Press – in 2015 he co-edited the publication New Scandinavian Photography (Black Dog Publishing). Bare most recently exhibited his project If, Then, Because, Since and So, at the OSL contemporary in Oslo, which was accompanied by an eponymous book, published by Hassla in New York.
Bjarne Bare – If, Then, Because, Since and So – Hassla Books 2017
Bjarne Bare – If, Then, Because, Since and So – Hassla Books 2017
Bjarne Bare – If, Then, Because, Since and So – Hassla Books 2017
If, Then, Because, Since and So
In Bare’s most recent series, If, Then, Because, Since and So, the camera confronts the objects head-on. Bare utilizes the boundaries of the frame to document the work, indicating a shift in the artist’s use of perspective and specific subject matter. The photographs, which visually register as an example of the artist’s interest in forms of de-representation, show an arrangement of bungee cords stretched and hooked to the furthest corners of an industrial peg board. This connection between the points created by the stretched bungee, sets up a tension in the image that suggests a tearing apart of what is being held. It is through this tension, a certain tug-of- war, that the photographic image breaks on itself, toward a three-dimensional space – in which the framed photograph is located.
The title is a reference to syntax and the formulaic repetition of language, mulled from the pages of an elementary school textbook. The act of repetition — be it a reference to a formal series or in the images conceptual arrangement — are both part of the artist’s photographic approach.
Bjarne Bare – If, Then, Because, Since and So – Hassla Books 2017
Bjarne Bare – If, Then, Because, Since and So – Hassla Books 2017
Bjarne Bare – If, Then, Because, Since and So – Hassla Books 2017
Bjarne Bare – If, Then, Because, Since and So – Hassla Books 2017
Bjarne Bare – If, Then, Because, Since and So – Hassla Books 2017
Bjarne Bare – If, Then, Because, Since and So – Hassla Books 2017
For more information on this publication, please visit Hassla Books.
To view more of Bjarne’s work please visit his website.