532 Gallery is pleased to present four new works by Birthe Blauth, in her first solo show in the US.
Plato likens the restricted nature of human perception and recognition to being in a cave. Humans are trapped, chained down, and see nothing but the shadows of the outside world projected onto the walls of rock by the fire behind them. We are prisoners of our own neurological and biological structures, but also of our cultural and biographic backgrounds. We are unable to perceive the “real” world. We have no way of doing so. But still we strive to see beyond the limits of our own mental caves.
Birthe Blauth’s conceptual video works and installations explore the conflict between the individual stands and his limitations. Her interest is divided equally between two areas. On the one hand, she focuses on subjective perception. On the other, she explores the subjective thinking and effort individuals undertake to relate themselves to their surroundings. Her precise, pared-down works appear simple at first. But as soon as the observer takes the time to open up to them, their complexity and effectiveness unfold. Her works are meditative and “unhurried”. Her approach to time is more at home in the cultures of the Far East. Often, the boundaries between fiction and reality, between art and the observer, between art and non-art become dissolved.