BIOGRAPHY

Marika Barnett was born in Budapest, Hungary. As a young college student she escaped communist Hungary after Soviet troops crushed the Revolution of 1956.

Ms. Barnett has developed her artistic talents by studying, teaching and working in Europe, Hawaii and mainland USA. Through the lens of her camera the artist distills the essence of common architectural forms and then employs mirror images to create animated compositions. In Marika’s photo compositions static images become dynamic, architectural structures transform into organic images, while fish displayed in a Turkish fish market turn into virtual oriental rugs. With the words of one critic: “what she produces is a joy to see”.

Her photos for the Harvard-Circle are currently being published and her photocomposition of the Boston Architectural Center is on the cover of the prestigious center’s 1996 Catalog. The B.A.C. image also found its way into the 1997 Geometry Book of publisher McDougal-Littell. Ms. Barnett’s images covered 10 pages of the most respected political and cultural periodical of Hungary, the “Beszélô”. Norton Publishing Company made her image of the “World Trade Center” the cover of one of their published (before September 11, 2001!) book on Economics.

Ms. Barnett’s works are now in several private collections throughout the Northeast, Florida and California. In the last few years she had her work exhibited in New York, Long Island, Baltimore, and Boston area galleries. In 2001/2002 she was a member of the Depot Square Gallery of Lexington. As a member of the Concord Art Center’s ‘Distinguished Artists’ group, she regularly exhibits her latest works at the Center. She is also member of the prestigious Cambridge Art Association. Several New England corporations have included her work in their collections as well as commissioning private compositions. Erdeich & White Fine Art of Boston, Corporate Art Directions of New York, Wigon Gallery of Scarsdale, NY, Carol Siegel Art Services of Pittsburg, PA, and Alexander Barnett of Los Angeles, CA represent her work.

Her photocompositions can be viewed on the Internet: www.mbarnett.com

For direct inquiry or commissions please call: 978/568-0556, Fax: 978/562-4676, write to Marika Barnett, 106 North Shore Drive, Stow, MA 01775 or send Email to: mbarnett@neaccess.net

Artist's Statement

I am Marika Barnett, born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1934. I escaped from Hungary in 1956 after the failed anti-Soviet revolution.

My photo images combine two things I have always loved: architecture and kaleidoscopes.

I never use special effect lenses or filters and rarely if ever alter the original photographs (well, sometimes I remove a wayward tourist that wondered into my photo). I scan the negatives into my computer***, flip it to create a seamless kaleidoscopic multiple image and from the resulting digital output have fine art quality Iris-prints made by a professional printer on Hahnemuhle paper with Equipoise ink. The prints have a soft look yet the details are crystal sharp.

As time goes by, I am consciously seeking out the “fifth image”. This is the image that comes forward as I combine the four identical photos. The original object disappears and emerges a design that sometimes reinforces, sometimes contradicts the original object. I enjoy taking images out of their context, forgetting what the original object is about. It is nice to tell our brain to ‘shut up’ for a moment and allow our eyes to enjoy a design just for itself. One can then see unexpected, surprising details and emerging new images that surface only through the creation of the mirror images.

A highly regarded Boston area curator, Nick Capasso put it this way: “In your compositions static structures become dynamic and inorganic objects become organic.” He might be surprised to learn that since then I have also made organic images become inorganic, transforming the dazzling display of fish at the Kumkapi Fish-market in Istanbul into the pattern of a Caucasian rug. Did I create the pattern? Of course I did not. I believe that the Turkish fish-peddlers instinctively lay out their fish in the traditional pattern of carpets but this becomes obvious only when you create the reflecting, multiple images.

My technique has many self-imposed restrictions. I do not do anything in the computer that I could not do in a darkroom, except creating the seamless images. The challenge is to find new and different subject matters to create surprising and exciting “fifth” images.

Currently I am creating 3 D images. The images, printed on washable canvas are glued to square based columns. Samples, in 3 different sizes are available and the photos of the ‘sculptures’ are already on my website (www.mbarnett.com).

***In 2002 I switched to digital cameras.