Laura Hughes Shifts Viewer Perceptions with "Passed Presence" at the Portland Building July 5–30, 2010

Background: As we move through buildings in our everyday existence, the level of urban distraction renders much of their visual information invisible. We pay attention to how we use the space, but not its full impact on our psyche. By contemplating and reorganizing the overlooked visual residue of form in space, the site-specific environments created by artist Laura Hughes bring attention and new consideration to important aspects of the architecture we inhabit daily. Her work challenges the assumptions we make about what surrounds us and allows us to see overlooked space in a fresh way.

Using the architectural details of the Portland Building lobby, Hughes’ current project leads the viewer into a rediscovery of form through the skillful reordering of how light and space shape one another. Shadows cast by the building’s lobby trimmings (designed by Michael Graves) are captured in iridescent paint and become amplified and abstracted into a counterfeit reality; shadow is inverted into luminous shape; form, hue and tonality are shifted to unsettle and readjust the viewer’s perception. All these elements work together to bring attention to how we visually experience the features and conditions of a space.

About the Artist: Laura Hughes, who has just completed the MFA program at Pacific Northwest College of Art, is known for her strategically manipulated visual environments that analyze and redirect our understanding of architectural surroundings. Her reordered spatial vocabulary, which invokes both apprehension and imagination, works to illuminate and challenge our standard perceptions of space.

Viewing hours: 7 am to 6 pm, Monday – Friday. The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland.

About the temporary installation space: Each year the Portland Building Installation Space series reserves a limited number of exhibition opportunities for advanced students pursuing a career in fine art. The format and presentation requirements are the same as those for established professional artists, but RACC created this separate eligibility category to help introduce emerging talents to the world of public art. Hughes is the third and final student artist to present work this season. For more information and a website that provides images, proposals and statements of all the Portland Building installations featured since 1994 go to www.racc.org/installationspace.