Through her unique use of materials and patterns, Chicago-based artist Dianna Frid recontextualizes systems of diagramming, specifically those used in describing landscapes and/or architectures.

Frid transforms the visual language of topographic mapping, which is strictly instructional and straightforward, into poetic interpretations of ambiguous spaces and/or fictional landscapes.

Through an installation-based approach to presentation, Frid expands and reinterprets the use of fabric in the creation of her "montages;" the pieces physically alter the spaces that they occupy. As a result, Frid gives the viewer a new sense of "place," one that encourages multiple interpretations and infinite possibilities.

After receiving her BFA in 1991 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Dianna Frid has actively exhibited her fabric landscapes as well as her artists' books and drawings. "The Wide Hours of the Afternoon," her most recent solo show, was exhibited in the spring of 2001 at the Allegheny College Art Galleries (Meadville, PA). Her other recent solo exhibitions include: "Dianna Frid," Esso Gallery, NYC (1999); "Dianna Frid," CROXHAPOX, Gent (Belgium, 1998); "Dianna Frid," Artspeak Gallery, Vancouver (1995) and "Dianna Frid," Haute 3 Imperial, Quebec (1995).

Frid is regularly curated into national and international exhibitions, the most recent of which include: "Group Show," Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (curated by Vicki Clark, 2001); "Books by Artists," Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, NYC (2000); "The Living End," Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (curated by Ingrid Schaffner, 2000); "Utopiaries," Tyler Art Gallery-Temple University, Philadelphia (curated by Kevin Melchionne, 2000); "Scripta Mannet," Galeria Milano, Milan & Galeria Martano, Turin (2000); "Lontano Da Dove?" Galeria Alberto Peola, Turin (1999); "Artist's Book Fair," Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1999); "Anatomical Permutations," Centro National de las Artes, Mexico City (1999); and "Dianna Frid and Elana Herzog," Mercer Union in Toronto (1999)

Artist's Statement--Dianna Frid

"Conceptually, my work focuses on aspects of PLACE as described by mapping, architecture, two- dimensional translations of three-dimensional geologies, explorers' and cartographers' accounts, and the nomenclature used in geography.

I make two and three dimensional fabric montages, artist books, and drawings. In my work, I emphasize the production of large scale pieces and artist books while maintaining the intricate detail achieved through techniques--such as embroidery and stiching--which I have consistently researched. I mostly work with cloth, and with images that I both find and make.

These images are diagrammatic in nature and are inspired by pictorial dictionaries and didactic sources. I incorporate pictorial elements into cloth by means of heat transfers. Embroidery techniques are applied to link fragmented sections and to integrate the fabric to the images. I am interested in handling cloth formally as a "found," physical entity that can be cut, torn, layered and frayed so that the resulting montage has a concrete presence which, when installed, interacts with the space that houses it. In exploring cloth's property as an object, I depart from the conventions of its functions as a passive/domestic surface on which images or patterns simply rest.

The conceptual relationship between the materials and the images I use is a vehicle for complex questions concerning the transformation of the generic into the personal, and the dialogue between the knowable and the interpretive. My intent is to demystify seemingly empirical systems of representation and to stress narrative and poetic ends. In using soft material and manual techniques, and in shifting the sense of scale used in more accurate mappings, my pieces loosely allude to the inconsistencies inherent in any system that attempts to classify "the world."

The series of one-of-a-kind artist books and drawings which often accompany--or which refer to--the larger works are further considerations on the concepts of shifting meanings. In the books, I develop the element of sequential time inherent in book composition. In the drawings, I am interested in the layering of images and paper in order to create a density of moments condensed in one pictorial plane".

- D. Frid

Organic Forms & Synthetic Materials
1/28/02-3/8/02

Surprise instead of expectation...

heterogeneity
over homogeneity

The temporal and the eternal...

...the enigmatic over the obvious

"Organic Forms/Synthetic Materials is an exhibition that has evolved out of our mutual fascination with artificial materials and surfaces coupled with an admiration for innovative form and spatial exploration"

Materialism & Conceptualism...