Quietly serious - Uta Barth at 1301PE by Catherine Wagley
One six-foot-high image in longtime L.A. artist Uta Barth's current show at first looks like a painting when you see it hanging at 1301PE. In fact, it's an especially sharp photograph of the white-painted exterior wall of Barth's studio. The sunlight makes the subtle inconsistencies of the paint job apparent and, as with much of Barth's best work, the image's quietness has more intensity than serenity. It requires your attention and demands that you acknowledge all its mundane but idiosyncratic details.