Tara Bogart: Mid Century

Tara Bogart: Mid Century by Aline SmithsonJune 1, 2019

©Tara Bogart, Traces

There are certain age milestones or markers, usually the ones with a number and then a big zero following it, that make us step back and take stock. Turning 50 is a middle point, where looking backwards and forward has equal gravitas. Tara Bogart has created three responses to this life marker: Traces, Chocolatines, and Vrilles, all representations of an external, internal, and physical transformation.

Combining the three projects into one presentation, Mid-Century, Tara finds herself at “the confluence of intensely personal, physical and cultural transitions Bogart utilizes her practice to wrest meaning from the challenges, doubts, insecurities, triumphs, and joys of her recent circumstances.

Standing at the often-unnerving intersection where the fateful and the willful meet, Bogart constructs, out of the humblest of subjects and photographic processes both archaic and advanced, embodiments of the beauty and wisdom revealed in quiet moments of contemplation.”

Mid-century is now on exhibition at The Alice Wilds Gallery in Milwaukee, WI through June 8th. Below are a few videos of the installations:

“Traces” by Tara Bogart from tara bogart on Vimeo.

Mid-century at The Alice Wilds Gallery from tara bogart on Vimeo.

Tara Bogart_Fabric Photo_01 from tara bogart on Vimeo.

Tara Bogart moved to Paris, France in October of 2015 from her hometown Milwaukee, WI. Having grown up with parents who had great affinity for French culture she finally landed there for the first time in 2011 and it felt like home. After many trips to visit and make photographs, she made the leap across the Atlantic. Jumping ahead almost 4 years, she is now working and residing in France.

Bogart has exhibited work at Hous Projects, New York, Elizabeth Houston Gallery, New York, Aperture, New York, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, Center of the Arts at Virginia Tech, VA, The Portrait Society Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, The Newspace Photo Center, Portland, OR, INOVA (Institute of Visual Arts), Milwaukee, The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, H2O Gallery, Art and Soul Gallery, and The Charles Allis Art Museum, Milwaukee and the Wriston Gallery at Lawrence University, Appleton, WI.

Bogart has been reviewed by the New Yorker, CNN Worldwide Photos, Slate Magazine, The Huffington Post, I-D Vice, Zoom Magazine, The British Journal of Photography and The New Republic and American Photography 29. She is in the private and public collections of The National Library of France, Paris and the J Crew Corporate Collection to name a few. She has studied at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, Photography and Fine Art studies department and The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. During an internship at The Maine Photographic Workshops, Bogart assisted Arnold Newman, Sally Gall, Eugene Richards, Mary Ellen Mark & Bruce Goodman. Tara Bogart is currently the Adjunct Faculty and Photography Lab Technician at the Paris College of Art.

©Tara Bogart, Traces

Mid-century

Vision
noun
vi·sion | \ ˈvi-zhən \

Definition of vision

b : the special sense by which the qualities of an object (such as color, luminosity, shape, and size) constituting its appearance are perceived through a process in which light rays entering the eye are transformed by the retina into electrical signals that are transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve

c : a manifestation to the senses of something immaterial

Mid-century is a moment of transition. While experiencing a total change of environment and impacted by intense cultural and physical change a surfacing wisdom arises. A story in 3 parts, Traces, Chocolatines & Vrilles are representations of an external, internal, and physical transformation. What was once a fear has now become an asset.

These perceptual changes, have led to an exploration of mediums, which might not have been considered without these challenges. Through digital capture and archaic techniques, which are newly discovered, flaws are celebrated and transformed to beauty.