David Barr, Sunsweep. 1985. Lithograph.
April 3, 2019
David Barr, Sunsweep. 1985. Lithograph.
Some think of borders as where two places meet- where one thing stops, and another begins. This lithograph of Sunsweep is representative of David Barr’s project that rethinks and reinvents the meaning of borders. Sunsweep is an international project in which Barr installed three geometric sculptures along the U.S./Canada border. Imprinted on each of them is a hand, from Native American art, to symbolize presence. These symbols are thought to speak to a universal language of divine movement. Each one of the sculptures is placed in a way that is specific to solar and stellar connections in that area. In order to get the full experience of the sculpture, the viewer must walk around it, thus crossing over into either one of the territories. Barr gave these sculptures to the communities that they now reside in as a gift of unity and friendship. Sunsweep confronts the assertion that borders are linear head on, deeming them to be a fluid sense of reunion and togetherness.
Barr emphasized that his structurist works don’t directly respond to natural occurrences, but rather attempt to create their own sense of space and time. They are meant to coexist simultaneously with other. Color, form, light, space, and time create the reality that his structures aim to celebrate. Barr placed emphasis on what it meant to be a creator with a sense of constructive process and was conscious of how his processes worked with nature.
Barr attended Wayne State University, receiving his BFA in 1962 and his MA in 1965. He went on to have his first solo exhibition at the Hanamura Gallery in Detroit the same year he completed his MA. He also began teaching at Macomb County Community College as a Professor of Art. Over the years, Barr completed many structures for public places in Detroit, such as the Michigan Legacy Art Park and the Four Corners Project. Barr was best known for his structurist works, which focused on the processes of building and discovering new ideas.
Written by Marissa N. Gannascoli