Feelin' Blue

“Blues,” a new exhibition and book by Tim Barber, is comprised of images Barber first made with the iPhone, and later converted to cyanotypes. Barber, a commercial and editorial photographer, grew up shooting film and printing in the darkroom, and always had an interest in printmaking, he says. “I wanted to abstract the images a few degrees away from their original state, thinking about them as kind of charcoal rubbings of three dimensional reality, re-interpreted translations of impressions.” Barber says the cyanotypes matched the mood he was trying to find with the images. He had experimented with the process when he was in school. “I’ve always really loved the blue tonality you get from [cyanotypes]; they are really peaceful and calming.”

Thirty-eight prints are on view through July 5, 2015 at French fashion designer agnès b.’s boutique and gallery in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. A book of the work is also available at the at the agnès b store, and at Dashwood Books, also in New York City.

agnès b. opened her first boutique in Les Halles, a market-turned-shopping center in Paris, in 1975. Her first New York City store opened in 1983. Inspired by her love of film noir, she decorated the store with vintage movie posters, and eventually led to the creation of her production company, Love Streams agnès b. Productions. B. is also interested in photography, working with artists such as Olivia Bee and now, commercial and editorial photographer, Tim Barber. Barber started working with b. in 2014 when she invited him to participate in a group show during Paris Photo. “It’s a real honor to work with her,” Barber tells PDN via email, “she has such an incredible history of supporting photography, film and the arts.”

In addition to working for clients like Adidas, Opening Ceremony, Levi’s, Roxy, Urban Outfitter and Philip Lim, Barber also runs the website Time & Space TV (formerly known as Tiny Vices). He is represented by Supervision.