Tina Barney

Reception Wed., Sept. 19, 6-8 p.m., runs Sept. 15-Oct. 27, Gallery 339, 339 S. 21st St., 215-731-1530, www.gallery339.com.

by Dominic Mercier

photography

(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Photographer Tina Barney's images are quite large, often measuring about 4 by 5 feet, but it's the smaller, subtle details pulsing with tension that make them so haunting. Born into an upper-crust New York family, Barney has taken advantage of her status not in the way of polo matches or weekends at the yacht club, but rather by photographing her family and their wealthy friends at dinner or in the middle of conversation, assuming the mantle of the rich woman's Nan Goldin. Drawn into opulent settings where chintz and tapestries rule, Barney's work confronts viewers simultaneously with an overwhelming sense of envy and a gut feeling that something isn't quite right. Barney brings her trademark ostensible eeriness to her most recent body of work, World Stage, which features work from the last 25 years, including portraits of European aristocracy and her most recent images from China.

Reception Wed., Sept. 19, 6-8 p.m., runs Sept. 15-Oct. 27, Gallery 339, 339 S. 21st St., 215-731-1530, www.gallery339.com.