Portfolio: Harry Bartnick

Digitized Images of Rome and Environs

By: Harry Bartnick - Mar 20, 2008

Parco della Pineta, Rome. 13 x 19, digital print on archival paper. Edition of 100

Circus of Maxentius, Rome. 13 x 19, digital print on archival paper

Roman Theater, Syracuse. 13 x 19, digital print on archival paper

Via Latina, Rome 19 x 13, digital print on archival paper

At Trajan's Bath, Rome 19 x 14.5 23 x 18 19 x 13, digital print on archival paper

Via Appia 2, Rome 13 x 20 digital print on archival paper

Via Appia, long version 9 x 22 14 x 13 20 x 50, digital print on archival paper

Roman Campagna, Early Morning 13 x 19, digital print on archival paper

Roman Campagna, Rain Cloud 14 .6 x 19 digital print on archival paper

Roman Campagna, Sun Burst 13 x 19 digital print on archival paper

Tiber, North of Rome 13 x 19 digital print on archival paper

Santa Maria del Popolo 1, Rome 19 x 13 digital print on archival paper

Angels with Painting 19 x 15 digital print on archival paper

Water Tower, Via di San Stephano Rotundo, Rome 19 x 12 20.5 x 13 31.5 x 20 digital print on archival paper

Water Tower X 4, Rome 13 x 25 18 x 34 20 x 38.5 digital print on archival paper

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Harry Bartnick – Artist's Statement

My subject matter centers on Rome and its environs.  Coming from a background in realist painting, I feel free to take liberties in developing these images, while remaining deferential to the basic image:  Removing unnecessary elements; adjusting color and tonal contrast, reconfiguring the lighting.  What compels these changes is the desire to reconstitute something of the drama and mystery of the original experience.  Inevitably, at each stage during the selection and editing process, the digitized photograph evolves into an object in its own right, offering surprises not indicated by the original photo, and resulting in 20 to 30 final variations.  After 2 or 3 weeks of intense study, experimentation, breakthroughs and dead-ends, an intimate knowledge of the image is attained.  To move on to the next photo is to end a close relationship. 

If one were to categorize the sights and attractions of Italy into levels of importance, on the 1st tier would be, of course, the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, Michelangelo's David, gondolas and leaning towers.  Having visited regularly since 1971, beginning with a college year in Rome, my interests are now somewhere around the 8th or 9th tier:   Angels in the architecture of baroque churches; 19th century water towers; obscure public parks on Rome's outskirts; the countryside seen from a small plane.  Far from the well-worn tourist paths, the solitude possible in non-famous places is, in itself, attractive.  These subjects, for not being well-known, are that much more workable as images, and often convey more of the soul of the culture.  Italy is a land of extremes:  gravity-defying architecture set against the crushing weight of ancient Roman stonework; the vital abundance of Tuscan hills and Roman Campagna on the one hand, the ever-present cult of death on the other.

Confirmed in my faith in the power of the single, intact image, I want the viewer to feel that what I am presenting may have actually existed in the "real" world.   It's the resonation between reality and the edited image that, within the context of the gripping power and sensuality of the Italian visual environment, inspires me to do this work.

Contact E mail

maryandharry@comcast.net