Barbara Bloom

Place: Los Angeles

Born: 1951

Biography:

Barbara Bloom is a conceptual artist best known for her multi-media installation works. She emerged as part of the Pictures Generation in the 1970s, after receiving a BFA from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA. For nearly twenty years she lived in Europe, first in Amsterdam then Berlin. Since 1992, she has lived in New York City with her husband, the writer-composer Chris Mann, and their daughter.

Early Life and Education

Bloom attended Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont, from 1968 to 1969, and in 1972 received her BFA from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California where her mentor was John Baldessari. Her education played a significant role in shaping her artistic style and approach.

Artistic Style and Technique

Bloom's work is characterized by the use of photography and installation. She has often compared herself, and the viewer of her work, to a 'detective' who is confronted with disparate clues and is asked to form some kind of visual narrative. Her work is often about the nature of looking, and she engages her viewer, seducing them into a beautifully constructed visual world, one that is underlaid by subversive wrenches thrown in. Barbara Bloom has an ongoing interest in the value and meaning we collectively and individually bestow upon objects and images. She has not been concerned with showing single objects or images, rather with highlighting the relationships between them, and the meanings implicit in their placement and combination. The objects are placeholders for thoughts, and when they are situated in proximity to one another, meanings can reverberate and ricochet off of each other.

Notable Works

Some of her notable works include The Weather, a work that features carpets with raised-dot patterns forming texts in Braille. The production of the carpets was a complex process, and it was not easy to find a manufacturer able to accurately produce the intricate patterns of raised dots. Recognition Bloom has received several awards and fellowships for her work, including the DAAD, Berlin Artist's-in-Residence (1986), Visual Artist's Fellowship in Photography from The National Endowment for the Arts (1986), and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in Fine Arts (1988).

Exhibitions

Bloom's work has been shown widely, including exhibitions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

• Barbara Bloom: A conceptual artist best known for her multi-media installation works.
• Notable exhibitions: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
• Awards: DAAD, Berlin Artist's-in-Residence (1986), Visual Artist's Fellowship in Photography from The National Endowment for the Arts (1986), and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in Fine Arts (1988).

Barbara Bloom is a significant figure in the art world, known for her conceptual and multi-media installation works. Her work has been widely exhibited, and she has received numerous awards and fellowships for her contributions to the art world. As a conceptual artist, Bloom's work continues to inspire and challenge viewers, making her a notable figure in the art world.