February 9 – March 10, 2001

Opening Reception: Friday, February 9, 2001, 6:00 – 8:00pm

The work of Anna Von Mertens navigates the conceptual space between the personal and the industrial. To explore this terrain, Von Mertens combines the tradition of quilt making with the structure of the grid.  Stitched onto fabric are maps and circuits that forge connections between distinct patches of dyed material that the artist has colored according to a personally devised system. Via, refers to a plated hole in a circuit board that allows information to pass from one layer of the board to another. Via can also be understood as a route that touches or passes through something.  One reading of this work offers industry, precision, exactness; the verso proposes intimacy, communication, and the closeness between things.