Plate V (from the Lucifer Falls series)

Artist Jeff Bark American, born 1963

Date2010

MediumDigital chromogenic print

Dimensions65 7/16 x 50 in. (166.2 x 127 cm)
Frame: 71 x 55 3/4 in. (180.3 x 141.6 cm)

ClassificationsPhotography

Credit LineGift of Allen G. Thomas Jr. in honor of Lawrence J. Wheeler

Object number2014.14.1

On View

Not on view

Label TextAs both an artist and fashion photographer Jeff Bark is known for polished images that he takes on highly elaborate and fantastical sets constructed by hand in his studio. With his recent Lucifer Falls series Bark moves away from his usual process and steps outside his studio to shoot along a river in a New York State Park. The eerie world of these images comes in hues of deep blue and green and features pale skinned nude or semi-nude figures. They lay soaking in white shifts clinging to the sides of cliffs, stiffly against rocks, or sitting beneath stunning churning waterfalls. In Plate V the legs of a male figure from beneath white cloth rest against the rocks. With an intriguing use of space they take up most of the frame and contrast sharply against the dark blue of the rocks behind. The path of light in the image diminishes as it moves downward which results in instances where foreground and background blend together—in these moments the world of dark romanticism and nature collide.
{l. Dougherty, 2014]ProvenanceCreated United States, 2010; collection of the artist; [Hasted Kraeutler Gallery, New York]; Allen G. Thomas Jr., Wilson, NC, 2010; given to NCMA, 2014.
Exhibition HistoryBoone, NC, Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, “Men Working: The Contemporary Collection of Allen Thomas, Jr.,” July 5, 2013–February 8, 2014.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Private Eye: Allen G. Thomas Jr. Photography Collection," September 13, 2014–March 22, 2015.
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