Barbara Karant

820 Ebony/Jet

March 6 - April 30, 2015

This project documents the core essence of the Johnson Publishing Company’s historic building in its semi-skeletal state before the final remnants of John Moutoussamy’s architectural design, Arthur Elrod’s interiors and the last vestiges of the original JPC communal workspace vanish. 820 South Michigan is about to morph into different functionality when it transforms into the future repository for artistic content, a new library for Columbia College. The building contains bits and pieces of its long time occupant Johnson Publishing and still embodies the spirit of this landmark African-American company who occupied the building from 1972 until 2012. The textures, colors, residual structures and remnants from the Johnson workplace all combine to create a unique, altered environment supplying the inspiration for the imagery. Outside of the influence of human intervention, time has been mark-making within The Johnson Building for over 40 years. Through serendipity and in concert with the individuals who occupied the space, gestures have been created by the movement of light over the surfaces revealing and expressive vocabulary that documents the passage of the decades. The absence of furniture and personal artifacts does not negate the reminder of its previous intensely vital occupancy, transcending both time and memory and providing a collective narrative of the past.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Photographer Barbara Karant is nationally known in the design, art, and architecture communities for the artistic beauty and the level of photographic quality she demands in her work. Trained at RISD (BFA) and the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA), she has worked commercially for more than 25 years. In addition to her interior and architectural work, Barbara has taught at, been published by, exhibited at, and been awarded by some of the nation's most prestigious museums, galleries, magazines, and institutes. Her work is represented in permanent collections including The Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, The Art Institute of Chicago, The St. Louis Art Museum, The Stanford University Art Museum, The Chrysler Museum, The Polaroid Collection, and The Avon Collection, to name a few. Barbara's photography is also represented in numerous private collections across the country.

Barbara’s commercial work has been published in Architecture, Interior Design, Metropolis, Architectural Digest, Metropolitan Home, Chicago Magazine, Domus, Michigan Avenue, Architectural Record, Bark, Esquire, Interiors and The New York Times. Her clients include a very broad range of architects, interior and graphic designers and manufacturers, both nationally and internationally known. Additionally, she has been a Lecturer in the Dept. of Fine Arts at Loyola University and an adjunct professor at both Columbia College and Harrington College of Design. She is the photographer of three books WITHIN THE FAIRY CASTLE, GREYHOUNDS and SMALL DOG BIG DOG. http://www.barbarakarant.com/