MIAMI, FL.- Emerson Dorsch presents Belle Captive and Lookout Parade, concurrent solo exhibitions by Victoria Fu and Matt Rich. Fu, who works in video, film, and photography and Rich, who creates meticulous constructions of paint and paper, are united in their use of layering techniques. From there, the motivations in these methods of collage divert dramatically: where Rich’s constructed paintings serve as an expressive, yet meditative exercise on the potential of his medium, Fu’s videos and photographs serve as an outward examination of our roles as spectators in the digital age.

In Belle Captive, Victoria Fu’s moving image installations appropriate stock media and narrative cinema to engage in a dialogue on recent paradigm shifts in film and video viewership. In her video installation Belle Captive I, Fu interrupts the picture plane and with it suspension of disbelief. Images are multiplied and layered to disorient the viewers’ sense of space, shifting between the real and representation. Her lush photo collage works exploit the optical effects of light and space to induce a state of honeying through a prismatic disjunction of color and form. They result in a mesmerizing collage, of glowing reds and yellows, that is seemingly familiar and yet wholly abstract.

Matt Rich’s meticulous, painted paper constructions in Lookout Parade present themselves as paintings. Yet the material dynamics, process, and compositional effects employed in the works are inseparable. His brightly-colored works are crafted from carefully painted and cut pieces of paper joined together by linen tape. While they are affixed to the wall, occupying the traditional space of painting, the joined paper—creased and torn—refuses to rest flat. This subtle three-dimensionality complicates attempts to triangulate a singular, overall spatial effect. Like his cut paper paintings, Rich’s small-scale, lushly-colored gouache paintings are process-based compositions built by layering colors and shapes. These dynamic compositions capture irregular forms and surprising color combinations that flirt with representation but remain rooted in abstraction and process. One senses that Rich has achieved, in these paintings, a degree of un-selfconsciousness so that he does not act, but becomes part of the act that directs him, as much as he directs it.

Victoria Fu holds a Masters of Fine Art from the California Institute of the Arts; a Masters of Arts in Art History from the University of Southern California; and a Bachelors of Arts from Stanford University. She was a participant of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Whitney Independent Study Program. Selected solo exhibitions include Lorem Ipsum at Marginal Utility (Philadelphia, PA), A Cloud is Not a Sphere at Flashpoint Gallery (Washington, DC), Milk of the Eye at Samsøn Projects (Boston, MA), and Lodestar | Polaris at General Public (Berlin, Germany). Selected group exhibitions include Render: New Constructions in Video Art at UCR/California Museum of Photography (Riverside, CA), Special Programs (with Ester Partegas) at Chinati Weekend (Marfa, TX), and Incidental Arrangements: Merry Xmas / War is Over at Galleria Gentili (Prato, Italy). She is the recipient of numerous grants and residencies including Montalvo Arts Center (Saratoga, CA), Fountainhead Residency (Miami, FL), and the Mellon Research Grant. She is currently Assistant Professor of Film/Video in the Department of Art, Architecture + Art History at the University of San Diego.

Matt Rich holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Bachelors of Arts in Visual Arts and History of Art and Architecture from Brown University; and is an alumnus of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Selected solo exhibitions include Razors & Vapors at devening projects + editions (Chicago, IL), Ghost Muscle at Samsøn (Boston, MA), Flatmosphere at The Suburban (Chicago, IL) and Painted Sculptures at Project Row Houses (Houston, TX). Selected group exhibitions include the Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, MA), DODGE gallery (New York, NY), and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (Los Angeles, CA). He has received fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Terra Foundation for the Arts, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.