Akula Dream, Venetian Ghost, Scratch Free State, Absence of Satan, Yes Frank No Smoke, Tilt
George Barber (born 1958, Guyana, lives and works in London) is a video artist. His works have been shown at international festivals, competitions, galleries, been broadcast on television throughout the world and awarded prizes.
George Barber received his BA in Sculpture 'A' (conceptual department) from St Martins School of Art in 1980 and his MA in Experimental Department from The Slade, in 1984.
Artistic career
Barber first gained acclaim through his low-tech video pieces composed of found footage which he deconstructed in an effort to display them as contradicting their intended purposes, many of which become a 'deft reworking of cinematic narrative and cliché'. Barber rose to prominence with these works, establishing the Scratch-video movement in the 1980s. Many of Barber's Scratch works including Absence of Satan, 1985 and Yes Frank Don't Smoke, 1986 are seminal to the history of British video art.
In 1990s, Barber moved away from Scratch in his practice and created low-tech video works which became 'influential in defining the then emergent ‘slacker' aesthetic'. Barber's works became more varied in the later stages of his career as he shifted towards a more narrative style in his monologue works such as Refusing Potatoes, 2003 or I Was Once Involved In A Shit Show, 2003. These simple performances were formally different from the scratch videos however conceptually in line with Barber's larger body of work as he layered his own stories with existing film and videos. As such, Barber's central concern remains the manipulation of found footage into new artistic experiences. With a focus on the narrative in his oeuvre, Barber sees 'himself, like Godard and Chris Marker, as a video-essayist'. Engaging with current issues and debates in his work, The Freestone Drone, 2013 and Fences Make Senses, 2015 'Barber’s way around art’s potential political inefficacy' is to redefine the terms as to the artist, art is a reaction and reflection of the world and the effort to see this reality without veils is an achievement in itself as it allows room for rethinking with less bias and contemplation of a neutral alternative.
Barber has been part of numerous programmes at Tate Modern and had retrospectives at the ICA, New York Film & Video Festival and recently at La Rochelle Festival, France. In 2014 Barber took part at exhibition 'The Invisible Force Behind.' at Imai – inter media art institute within Quadriennale Düsseldorf. In 2015, the artist had three solo exhibitions at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff, Young Projects in Los Angeles and waterside contemporary in London.
Solo exhibitions
2015
Akula Dream, Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
George Barber, Young Projects, Los Angeles
Fences Make Senses, waterside contemporary, London
2014
The Freestone Drone, waterside contemporary, London
The Freestone Drone, Art Istanbul International, Istanbul
2010
The Long Commute, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee
2009
Beyond Language, Marc De Puchredon Gallery, Basel
Light Industry, X-initiative’s NO SOUL FOR SALE, New York City
2008
Automotive Action Painting, Chapter Arts, Cardiff
The Long Commute, Jack the Pelican Presents Gallery, New York
2007
Retrospective, Festival International du Film de La Rochelle, La Rochelle
Kirkcudbright International Art Festival, Scotland
2006
Automotive Action Painting, Tate Britain, London
Retrospective, Split Film & Video Festival, Croatia
2005
New Work One man show, London Gallery West, London
2004
Shouting Match, World Wide Video Festival, Amsterdam / Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool
2002
Upside Down Minutiae and Yes Frank No Smoke, Gallery Contemporain Centre Regional D’Art, SETE
Group exhibitions
2015
Politics of Amnesia II, Cafe Gallery, Fieldgate Gallery, London
2014
Wall to Wall, with Alec Finlay, Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson, Andrea Luka Zimmerman, Hatton Gallery, Great North Museum, Newcastle
Ever Ending, curated by Elizabeth Murphy, Adam Lewis-Jacob and Alex Rathbone, Adam Renshaw, Toast, Manchester
REKURZE 1.618, curated by Jan Mladovský, Jan Stolín, Museum of European Art, Liberec
2013
Refractive Distance, The Art Exchange, University of Essex, Colchester
Sept vidéos dans la collection de Marc Fassiaty, with Bertran Berrenger, Julien Creuzet, Oskar Dawicki, Éric Duyckaerts, Valérie Mréjen, Pierrick Sorin, Marting Aboucaya, Paris
The Automated Image, curated by Paul Wombell, Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal, Montréal
After Hours / Drop Box, curated by John Lawrence, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK
REKURZE 1.618, curated by Jan Mladovský, Jan Stolín, Nová galerie, Státní zámek Třeboň, Třeboň
2012
After Hours / Drop Box, AndOr, London
Exhibition India: Visions from the Outside, curated by Shanay Jhaveri, Hallen and De Bond, CC Brugge, Brugge
2011
At the End of the Line, with Lilah Fowler, Karim Noureldin, Helen A Pritchard, waterside contemporary, London
2010
Mediations Biennial, Poznan, PL
Empty Sets, waterside contemporary, London
There is no solution because there is no problem, The Moor, Sheffield
Misty Boundaries Fades and Dissolves, FormContent Gallery, London
Mob Remedies, with Lothar Götz, Natasha Kidd, Piers Secunda, curated by Piers Secunda, Gallery Primo Alonso, London
2009
Paint Can, with Miranda Blennerhassett, Michael Craik, Alexis Harding, Jacco Olivier, Carol Rhodes, Christopher Stevens, Ufuk Gueray, Travelling Gallery, UK
Figuring Landscapes, curated by Dryden Goodwin, Tate Modern, London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
2008
What’s That Sound, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow
Colour Film and Video, curated by Simon Payne, Tate Modern, London
2006
Single Shot, with Clio Barnard, Shane Davey, Ben Dodd, Sean Dower, etc., Tate Britain, London
2004
Beyond Language and Withdrawal, National Portrait Gallery, London
2002
Aquaria, with Vito Acconci, Gary Hill, Bruce Nauman, Bill Viola, etc., Landesgalerie, Oberosterreich, Linz
1997
RIPE, Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool
Ansaphone, Whitechapel Open, London
1996
Retrospective, ICA, London
Awards
2008
Automotive Action Painting, First Prize, 24th Hamburg International Short Film Festival
2004
Walking Off Court, Grand Prix, Split Film & Video Festival
1998
2CB CURTAIN TRIP, Gold Award, ARS ELECTRONICA, Austria
1990
Gold Award, ARS ELECTRONICA, Austria
1996
Award, Exploding Cinema Group
Publications
2005
George Barber - minigraph, by Gareth Evans and Paul Morley, Film and Video Umbrella, London
London Gallery West Catalogue, by Michael Maziere, Gemini Press
1988
Close-Up: Nick Logan, by George Barber, Marxism Today, September
1984
Looking at Pop Videos and Thinking About Other Things, by George Barber, Journal of Art and Education
