Anna Camilla

Anna Camilla Anichini Barr

The images that have shaped my artwork come from my personal life. Growing up in Italy it was just my mother and I. As a textile designer, she filled the house with her beautiful fabrics, which were a part of our everyday life; from the towels to the napkins and sheets, she designed everything. Also, having spent my childhood in the Italian countryside, near Florence, left me with a connection to nature, that is now reflected in my work. Though I was born in New York, I did not spend much time there until I begun studied at SVA. Therefore I feel both nature and the city have a direct influence in my work. The renowned artist Lenore Tawney has also inspired my style. She was my godmother, who I looked up to as an ideal model of an artist; for Lenore her art was her life and all the things that surrounded her, even a pin box, was a work of art that she made. This is the life to which I still aspire, and feel I am working towards, with this graduation installation.

I began at SVA as an illustration major, but in my 3rd year I felt constrained by the assignments and I did not have the opportunities to perform the kind of art that I really wanted. This last year has been my first year as fine arts major. Here I can more freely explore the kind of art that I have wanted to make, and in doing so, discovering much more about my abilities.

In this installation I investigate the dilemma of illusion of space, and illusion of perception. As separated beings from the rest of the world, everything is perceived through the filter of our senses. Thus we cannot ever see the world for its self. In this installation, the use mirrors, and the inherent illusion of space they create, serves as a way to make the work “turn on” as the viewer engages it, by looking at its reflection. But how are we to know, that the object is a mirror, unless we see the reflection? The only way we can know is by seeing it. Yet we can identify a piece of wood right away, even by just touching it.  This dependence on visual affirmation of truth is of central importance to my work. This installation is meant to replenish all of the viewer’s senses, from the smell of wood to the reflection in the mirror, and my work is also meant to be touched.

The pentagon piece refers to the illusion of prospective. I was inspired by the use of trompe-l’oei painting in some of the churches that I have seen in Italy. As you walk in to the church, you might think that there is a cupola over the alter, but as you move under it, you realize that it is just a painting of one. Trompe-l’oei is a very ancient technique, which started with the Greek alfresco, and is still used, today in the everyday life, within images on TV, magazines, etc. Pondering on illusionist images and faux objects that surround me, I feel I can readily divide reality and illusion, but at the same time I question the value of perceived truth in my reality. Can one person determine reality but for themselves? I could trust other living creatures eyes, though I have just one pair. Therefore I can never grasp the true essence of what is in front of me. I can just continue to look at the world through infinite reflections, like that created by two mirrors facing one another.

The geometric shapes that characterize many of my pieces are, not only influenced by fiber, but also by the basic forms that make up the structures that surround us, such as houses and trees. There is the common idea, that a straight line is a perfect form, though when you really come to think about it, you realize that in nature there is no such thing as a perfectly straight line. The buildings here in New York, for example, might be built around a plan of right angles and perfect horizontal and vertical lines, though; in actuality those concrete angles and lines will never be perfect. The minimalist tried to achieve an ideal form or image, in the Platonic sense, that would never change. Malevich’s ‘Black Square’ series, undertakes the reduction of the image to a pure relationship between image and frame, between contemplated object and field of contemplation. Thus one cannot escape the black square, whatever image is seen, it is simultaneously the black square.

I believe that reality is not made of ideal repetitive shapes, but uniquely different ones. One can struggle to achieve perfection of form, though, it is a nuisance, because even in nature there is no such thing, there are just existing forms. In fact, each line that I make has a life and an individuality of it’s own, as does each piece of grass on the earth.