Jeff Bark’s project originated two years ago: a brief visit to the Italian capital inspired him to recreate, in a space found somewhere within the abstract realm and that of reality, a Grand Tour in the Bel Paese. His vision grants seemingly insignificant objects a sense of poetry and meaning; souvenirs found in American flea markets become the catalyst for grandiose compositions and solemn portraits, images that end up representing – symbolically and allegorically – the nuances of human nature. The careful use of lighting, along with the richness, the ambiguity with which every detail is nurtured, render it all unexpected and uncertain: it is a still stolen from a reel we shall never see, from which we do not know a beginning, and will never know an end.
The authenticity and ambiguity, the sensual beauty, the lights and shadows found throughout Bark’s work are all but coordinates of a trip across Italy that is unbound by a specific timeline or frame; it is one that evokes artistic moments found in the Renaissance, the Baroque, and the phenomenal works of Fellini and Visconti.
The limited space found within his garage has allowed Bark to discover an approach that is both meticulous and cinematic, one that resembles more the creation of a painting rather than the assembly of inspirations. It is an approach that represents his many fragments, and that holds tightly within itself the influences of European, Italian and Flemish art.