Anna Fidler

I build bodies from layers of glued together paper. These silhouettes—represent the energy of a person—the heat, emotions, experience of their lives. I describe this through the dimensional, topographic contours of their bodies. For me, cutting and gluing paper represents a slow, meditative ritual-like process in my studio. This work is research-based, often using historical photographs of individuals such as Dada artist and poet, Elsa von Freytag Loringhoven or Swiss artist, designer, and dancer, Sophie Taeuber-Arp. Aligned with the Spiritualists of the early twentieth century, I feel these paintings serve as a gateway to another place or time.

I began making environments for spirits—forests, houses, sanctuaries—three years ago. More recently, I have become interested in how spirits get from one place to another. An elevator is a vessel, a portal, a box with doors, a method of going up and down. It is a simple way to leave one place and get to another. How do birds and reptiles ascend to the spirit world when their wings fail and they can no longer glide through grasses? Moths drawn to flames, candles, porch lights—tempt fate flying closer and closer—yet where do they go from there? Streamlined art deco contours, symmetry and design influence my elevator paintings. They are gateways to what comes next.

In 2023, I began working on linen canvases. Sized linen has a natural look that preserves the texture of my matte gouache paint and I enjoy the drum-like feel of the canvas when stretched tightly. I find painting on linen to be a slower process than paper—the medium I have used for decades—and I appreciate the texture of the fabric and the way gouache becomes a little transparent even when applied thickly. I make small dilute gouache studies on computer paper. These studies are loose interpretations for compositions around such subjects as the death of an electrical eel, smoke and ghosts hovering over an art deco ashtray, and stained glass cobwebs in the late morning. I am an intuitive painter, and my ideas often change as I go.

Anna Fidler (b. 1973, Traverse City, Michigan) lives in Corvallis, Oregon where she teaches studio art at Oregon State University. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, in 1995 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in studio art from Portland State University in 2005. Fidler has had solo exhibitions at The Boise Art Museum, APEX at The Portland Art Museum, Johansson Projects in Oakland, Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Oregon, Disjecta, Portland, Oregon, and has been widely exhibited at such venues as The Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science, and Art, The University of Southern California, The Tacoma Art Museum and The Sun Valley Center for the Arts. Her exhibitions have been reviewed in publications such as Art in America, The Washington Post, The Oregonian and The San Francisco Chronicle. Grants and awards include an Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship, a Regional Arts and Culture Council Project Grant, and residencies at Painting’s Edge in Idyllwild, California and The Sun Valley Center for the Arts. Her work is held in the collections of The Portland Art Museum, The Boise Art Museum, Portland Portable Works Collection and Seattle Portable Works Collection. Fidler is represented by Charles A. Hartman Fine Art in Portland and Johansson Projects in Oakland.

CV

NYTIMES / SF ARTS MONTHLY, “Gallery Highlights”, March 2019, Christian L Frock 
“In Her Kind” Anna Fidler + Cathy Lu…seem to declare a new world order where feminists call the shots…”

Cascade A&E, “At liberty New Exhibition: Anna Fidler: Vampires & Wolfmen”, May 1, 2018
“The legend of the vampire is of particular interest to me due to the subject’s innate romanticism fused with a form of energy exchange—in this case the transference of life from one being to another,” says artist Fidler.” Link

San Francisco Chronicle / SFGate “Artists, layered work seemed a good match at Johansson” December 23, 2015 Kimberly Chun
“a simpatico relationship that manifested in more ways than one” Link

Broke-Ass Stuart “Art Gallery You Should Know: Johansson Projects” November 5, 2015 Marilyn Jones 
“Inspired by rituals and dream, Fidler captures a boundary between this world and where others could easily be crossed, in her energetic gouache paintings.” Link

In The Make “Anna Fidler” May 2014
“I am most inspired by strange and visionary worlds… ” Link

 Springfield Times “Anna Fidler Displays at Museum” April 19, 2013 Darcy Wallace
“the invisible yet tangible process of plant photosynthesis inspired her to explore the types of energy present on earth” Link

 East Bay Express “Anna Fidler’s Vampire Culture” July 18, 2012 Alex Bigman
“Fidler’s recurring statements about portrait representation and implied narrative, icon and spectacle, with clarity and verve in all the places where the Trail Blazers series dropped the ball” Link

 Art in America “Anna Fidler” June 4, 2010 Sue Taylor
“Anna Fidler established a presence in Portland over a decade ago with fanciful abstract paintings and cut-paper collages inspired by forms in nature” Link

 The Oregonian “Anna Fidler’s Full Court Concept” December 4, 2009 Chas Bowie
“Fidler takes her subject beyond the discourse of movement and athleticism, treating basketball as an ebullient ritual played out on levels both mystical and cellular” Link

San Francisco Chronicle “Don’t Miss: Portals” May 15, 2008 Mary Eisenhart
“It’s all about gateways to the unknown in this mystically tinged collection of paper-based works… Anna Fidler’s paintings and Jana Flynn’s mutlimedia creations chart deamlike landscapes.” Link

Fiber Arts “Energy and Mass” 2009 Bean Gilford

Artweek “Portals’ at Johansson Projects” July/August 2008 Barbara Morris

Flavor-Pill ‘“Portals: Jen Stark, Anna Fidler, and Jana Flynn”  May 8, 2008 Jeanne Storck

Artweek “Mistique: New Works on Paper by Anna Fidler” September/October 2007 Prudence Roberts

The Wall Street Journal “Small Collectors” September 14, 2007 Kelly Crow

 Savoir Magazine “Anna Fidler” January 2007 Mikael Jehanno

Artweek “2006 Oregon Biennial at the Portland Art Museum” October 2006 Daniel Duford

 New American Paintings “Pacific Coast Edition” 2005 Link

Artweek “2001 Oregon Biennial at the Portland Art Museum” July/August 2001 Lois Allan

The Oregonian “The Oregon Biennial: Not the Usual Suspects” May 1, 2001 Bob Hicks

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