8/16/2016 Interview with Artist Laura FritzAHC: Can you tell us a bit about your process, themes & inspirations? Laura: These are uncertain times and my work meticulously explores the mechanisms and peculiarities of human cognition in response to the uncertainty we find in the intersecting spheres of the organic and manmade. I build custom furniture and objects and utilize light and video to create installations ergonomically designed to play directly upon the expectations of the viewer and to create an immersive experience of questioning, empathy and heightened awareness. I’m inspired by the uncertainties one encounters in nature, science and the domestic, and the human response. My process? I’m very empirical, but also improvisational. The process is a little like gardening- planning is involved, but once I have some elements together I have to allow the process to develop as it will, given the material attributes, etc. I then decide which elements are the right ones to use, and I have to make accommodations as I see fit. There is an expansive sense of mystery that is cultivated in the work. Part of that cultivation is being very meticulous, but I don’t want to control it so much that it becomes dead- for example, trying to juxtapose more controlled elements like boxes with elements that are not possible to control such as animals. When I work with animals for my video installations I have an idea of what I want the animals to do, but they always surprise me with what they actually do. It is never exactly what I planned for, but it ends up being better because it is what comes naturally to the animal, its intrinsic and not possible for me to script. It is the same method that I use with my object making. Instead of creating odd looking objects I choose to cast from particularly visually striking botanical source materials, because nothing anyone could come up with could ever be as idiomatic or intricate. I do ascribe to the old saying that truth is stranger than fiction. I then mutate and amplify those intricacies. These forms have their own logic which I transpose and reapply into a different context, much the same way scientists find and develop new drugs. I let the process direct itself, but I’m a ruthless editor and I don’t let the project get away from me. I like to place these elements out of context into a stripped down built environment, so there is wide opportunity for interpretation. This, along with the stillness of the space, may cause the viewer to sense that they are witness to a purposeful process at play. 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 refer to these cognitive phenomena as apophenia. AHC: What first drew you to art? Was there a specific moment in your life or turning point where it became clear to you that you were being called to create? Laura: It was more like a series of moments that came together to convince me over time. There was the time that I discovered lighting and mood at age 4 in the grocery store. One aisle, which happened to be the peanut butter and jelly aisle, had its lights go out. While the rest of the store was lit with the usual florescent lighting, this aisle was illuminated only by whatever light came through the jars of jelly from the aisle next to it. The various jellies were glowing, punctuated by the dark opaque peanut butter jars, and the area had such an exciting and mysterious feeling. I remember running back and forth within it, so enveloped in the experience. A few years later I realized that I liked creating altered situations of this kind for others. My cousin had the coolest Star Wars toys that would light up, and at family gatherings I would create what I called haunted houses in his room. I would lead various family members through on a planned path in the darkened room from one “display” to another and see how they would react. I remember for a period of time feeling that this was extremely important to complete when I was over at their house, even though there was no logical reason that it would be necessary. This is the type of determination it takes to be an artist. AHC: Could you talk about your notion of peripheral objects, that is all of the things that exist at the corners of our perception, that make up our world & experience as much as the main events or attractors, but that we seem to pay less attention to? Laura: I’m very interested in the choices we make about what is considered peripheral and what is the main focal point, the hierarchies we assign. In my installations I like to raise questions about what the focal point actually is, and whether the viewer can trust their perception. For example, my installation Evident (2009, New American Art Union) consisted of 3 objects in a darkened room, giving the impression that the viewer is to move from focusing on one object to the next, however video footage of intermittent insect activity projected from a box on the floor sprayed throughout the gallery unpredictably. At any point a viewer could catch a momentary glimpse of an insect out of the corner of their eye, but by the time they could focus their attention to that spot the insect would have moved on. Evident, installed in 2009 at New American Art Union, Portland, OR For my work that involves reflective surfaces like Ingress, which I created for the show Transparencies at the Des Moines Art Center, the mirror-like surfaces both expand and contract the field of vision. Even though the tables are large the reflective surfaces cause the space inside the cases to seem much larger. The awareness of contracting and expanding space, and of the inhabitants of the space, is central to what I do. It is architectural, revealing the mazes we become accustomed to as well as those we are less familiar with or had been unaware of. Ingress, in the group show Transparencies at the Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines IA (2013.) AHC: Immersion in the side car of experience is the feeling I get from exploring your work, that quick passing detail that happens faster than one can cognitively digest or process, in exploring these aspects do you find yourself often paying special attention throughout the day to the peripheral events of life around you? Laura: Often things that may seem mundane or even flawed to most tend to stop me in my tracks, then upon closer examination I may see something strikingly strange or find a sublime thread running through it. I like to create situations for the viewer to “notice” something in this way. Through use of context in architectural or display methods I highlight some kind of peculiarity or intrinsic quality that appears to have its own logic. Take, for instance, bees. They are everywhere but we don’t pay very close attention to them, despite how crucial they are to our food supply. They have such a purposeful way of moving, even though at first glance they seem erratic. When we take the time to really focus on them, patterns of behavior start to emerge and even those are barely understood. My most recent project, Alvarium, which I installed at the University of Oregon in Portland, involved honey bee footage projected within a hive-like form suspended from beams that I designed with the building's architecture in mind. I shot the video at the Oregon State University Honey Bee Lab, transferring the idiomatic patterns of bee movement to the structure to give the appearance of a hive indoors and isolated from the natural surroundings. This highlights their precarious position in the world and how as species we rely on each other in ways that aren’t fully understood. Typically, we encounter lone bees that are foraging for pollen and we don’t see their grand coordinated efforts, but I wanted to show how an entire hive responds. So I captured a hive collectively responding to a disruption (it is something the lab does to study and care for the bees regularly). At first it seems chaotic and then they organize themselves into what looks like continents. The bees are incredibly active and purposeful. I’ve had a variety of reactions to the piece- Sometimes people were actively viewing the work, while other times they hung out below the installation to work on their own project, adopting a similar work ethic. When actively viewing the piece visitors have tended to cluster under the “hive”, often empathizing with the situation that they believe may be unfolding above them, creating their own narratives. Alvarium, installed at University of Oregon, Portland campus. AHC: Who are some of your artistic influences? Is there anyone outside of the art world who has had a huge impact on your work, writers, filmmakers, philosophers etc? Laura: A couple of my biggest artistic influences are Eva Hesse and Donald Judd. Often, I contrast organic entropic, surreal elements with a more empirical and geometric approach so these seemingly different influences complement each other. Overall, I cultivate a certain very expansive, mysterious mood through light and structure with a dry sense of humor so others like Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Irwin, Mies van der Rohe, Beethoven, Alfred Hitchcock and Giorgio de Chirico have caught my attention at formative moments. Still it is all filtered through life so the garden and interesting interior spaces capture my attention and endlessly inspire me. AHC: What is the first work of art you encountered that took your breath away? Laura: When I was in high school I first encountered a book of the Helga Paintings by Andrew Wyeth, and was captivated by the mysterious, otherworldly yet intimate mood of the paintings. I was drawn to the sense of composition and attention to certain details, such as the light catching a stray strand of hair. There was a feeling in the paintings of some kind of undercurrent that was fundamentally important, but not explained. Not all details are provided, so the viewer had to draw their own conclusions. AHC: Do you have any upcoming exhibits or new projects you'd like to tell people about? Laura: Currently I have work in a group show “The Color of Memory” at Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art in Portland. The piece is called Spektive (specimen V017) and involves a cast organic form or “specimen” resting on a small minimalist shelf designed to capture, reflect and hold light. The shelf has a mirrored layer that reflects light up to the organic form, and the organic form is cast out of a clear resin that holds light to the point of appearing to glow. The piece is really using the gallery lighting to create more light within itself. Spektive (specimen V017), completed in 2016, up currently at Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art in the group show "Color of Memory".
I’m also forming plans to show more expanded versions of Alvarium that address space even more, in addition to a desert piece in California. To find more work by Laura Fritz and for further information visit her website at www.laurafritz.net Comments are closed.
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