Installation view

January 7 – February 22, 2009

“Evident”, the highly anticipated installation by Laura Fritz, is the latest of New American Art Union’s  Couture series. Acclaimed for her mysterious and provocatively understated use of space and objects this is Fritz’s first full-scale solo show in Portland since 2003. In 2005, Seattle’s Regina Hackett listed her as one of, “the most exciting video artists in the country.” For an exhibition in 2007, Reed College curator Stephanie Snyder described Fritz’s work as dealing in, “pure perception.”

“…This stressing of anti-narrative opens up the possibility of uncertainty, a more active intellectual state, the space of change….She knows where the edges are, liminal territories with room to move. She puts into service a series of challenges in identifying, consuming and silencing the art object.” — Elizabeth Pence, Artweek, September 2005

“There is a basic animal need to ascertain and define what is going on within a space. My work exploits this by setting up scenarios for experiences without trying to control the end experience. My work tests the limits of human perception and cognition, catalyzing curiosity for mixed feelings of doubt and unease. I am interested in the cool tension that results from the efforts of the mind to create connections between disparate elements before they are understood. Scientists sometimes refer to these cognitive phenomena as apophenia.” — Laura Fritz, 2008