In her second solo show at Charles A. Hartman Fine Art, Portland-based artist Eva Speer contemplates both the passage of time and our struggle to construct a place within it. Her lush and vibrant paintings acknowledge our relative minuteness, small blips in the geologic immensity of time, while respecting the struggle to construct a meaningful existence within it. A multi-layered tension is created in these pieces as the viewer tries to find their place in works that exist and fascinate in both the foreground and the background of our experience. Speer shares, "I am thinking of "landscaping" as actions that we perform almost instinctively in response to overabundance, infinity, or pitiless repetition. As intransigent, vast or immeasurable, landscapes bear witness to the scale of our pursuits. We want to re-create creation, to pick something out and anoint it as unique."

Speer earned an MFA in painting at Indiana University in 2006, and has exhibited her work in Seattle, Portland, Miami and Montreal. Oregon Public Broadcasting recently produced and aired an Oregon Art Beat segment showcasing her conceptual approach and process. Publications that have recognized Speer's work include Portland Modern, The Oregonian, Willamette Week, and the blog PORT.