ARTIST STATEMENT: Brooklyn native Ed Barnas has been photographing since the 1960’s. His series of burlesque images - Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion - began in 2003 and grew out of documenting public costume/masking events such as the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, adult Halloween parades, and SantaCon. While these events offer people a chance to break away from their everyday roles, they are limited to only brief periods of time.
While many performers have the opportunity to step out of their skins on a regular basis, most do so in the service of a character created by another. The burlesque performer, however, is more often the creator of the character she (or he) presents. This makes these performances much more personal and evocative events (and often ephemeral).
Ed aspires to capture the essence of the performance (i.e., seeking the incisive moment rather than the decisive one). He prefers to use available light wherever possible, to preserve the look and feel of the performance and the space. Ed has photographed in many NYC burlesque venues as well as many major festivals [the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend, Tease-o-Rama, the New York Burlesque Festival, the Boston Burlesque Expo, and the Toronto Burlesque Festival]. He has also taught classes in performance photography in Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, and Toronto.
In addition to his burlesque series, Ed is also exploring the interaction of trees with the urban environment (City Trees, Urban Roots) and street art (Faces on the City).
Little Brooklyn, Sept. 2004 September 2004 archival ink-jet print Little Brooklyn at Burlesque at the Beach, Coney Island
- from the series Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion
The World Famous *BOB* & Peekaboo Pointe August 2005 archival ink-jet print The World Famous *BOB* & Peekaboo Pointe at Galapagos Art Space, Williamsburg - from the series Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion
Bambi the Mermaid & Bunny Love May 2005 archival ink-jet print Bambi the Mermaid & Bunny Love "alligator wrestling" at Burlesque at the Beach, Coney Island - from the series Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion
Dottie Lux, August 2006 August 2006 archival ink-jet print Dottie Lux at Galapagos Art Space, Williamsburg - from the series Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion
Bonnie Dunn with Broadway Bob, January 2007 January 2007 archival ink-jet print Bonnie Dunn with Broadway Bob at Southpaw, Park Slope - from the series Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion
Tigger!, June 2007 June 2007 archival ink-jet print Tigger! performing at the Mermaid Ball, Coney Island - from the series Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion
Stormy Leather, January 2008 January 2008 archival ink-jet print Stormy leather at Galapagos Art Space, Williamsburg - from the series Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion
Melody Sweets with Stormy leather July 2009 archival ink-jet print Melody Sweets with Stormy Leather at the Slipper Room - from the series Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion
Perle Noir, December 2009 December 2009 archival ink-jet print Perler Noir at the Slipper Room - from the series Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion
Gal Friday, January 2010 January 2010 archival ink-jet print Gal Friday at BadAss! Burlesque at Arlene's Grocery Store - from the series Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion
Ferro, November 2009 November 2009 archival ink-jet print Ferro at BadAss! Burlesque at Arlene's Grocery Store - from the series Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion
Roxi DLite July 2008 archival ink-jet print Roxi DLite at the first Toronto Burlesque Festival - from the series Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion
Trixie Little & the Evil Hate Monkey, September 2008 September 2008 archival ink-jet print Trixie Little & the Evil Hate Monkey, at Pinchbottom Burlesque's Pretencion, Spiegeltent - from the series Portraits in Performance, Performance in Motion
Hungry tree, New Orleans, April 2009 April 2009 archival ink-jet print A tree outgrowing its support, French Quarter, New Orleans - from the series City Trees, Urban Roots
Roots, Hong Kong, March 2009 March 2009 archival ink-jet print Tree roots by Stanley Market in Hong Kong
Enveloped fence, London, September 2009 September 2009 archival ink-jet print A tree enveloping the fence, across from the British Museum
Krakow, May 2004 May 2004 archival ink-jet print Graffitti on restaurant wall off Main Square in Krakow, Poland - from the series Faces on the City
Metal gate, Tribeca, November 2007 November 2007 archival ink-jet print from scanned negative Face on metal gate, Tribeca - from the series Faces on the City
Face and scooter, SoHo, October 2006 October 2006 archival ink-jet print from scanned negative Street scene in SoHo - part of the series Faces on the City
Drainpipe, New Orleans, October 2009 October 2009 archival ink-jet print Drainpipe on Chartres St, French Quarter, New Orleans