George Barber (artist)

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.[2]

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,[3] many of which become a 'deft reworking of cinematic narrative and cliché'.[4] Barber rose to prominence with these works, establishing the Scratch-video movement in the 1980s.[5] 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.[6][7]

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'.[8] 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. With a focus on the narrative in his oeuvre, Barber sees 'himself, like Godard and Chris Marker, as a video-essayist'.[9]

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'[10][11] 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.[10]

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[12] within Quadriennale Düsseldorf.[13] In 2015, the artist had three solo exhibitions at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff, Young Projects in Los Angeles and waterside contemporary in London.

Barber is professor of postgraduate research at University for the Creative Arts.[14]

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[15]
• 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

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

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