Don’t know much about art? Compared to Carrie E.A. Scott, who reviewed Susie J. Lee’s current exhibit at the Lawrimore Project for SW in October, neither do I. And Lee’s brilliant, time-based installations and videos in “Refrain” make up one of those shows that make me consider intuition as important as prior knowledge. The first thing you see when entering

“Refrain” is nothing: a cavernous and completely dark room slowly simulates a rainstorm using sound and light effects. Each subsequent piece has a similar cadence. A Bach cantata plays in one while a video of oil trailing through water reflects onto an overhead screen. A single-channel video, Conjugal, plays on a billowing screen with a whispered audio accompaniment some of my group found sexy and others creepy. And Fugue State, which projects hands grasping and playing and slipping away, through resin shapes, was mesmerizing. Scott writes that “Lee’s enduring fascination with the patterned behavior of our brains [or rather, the way we play memories over and over in our heads] makes song an apt compositional tool and the looped format of video art the most appropriate of mediums.” Lee is an intellectual (with degrees in art, biophysics and biochemistry, and education) making

accessible work; it’s complex and yet clears a space in your mind. “Refrain” shows that while having a frame of reference is nice, art, like love, is so often about gut reactions and remembrances. Show ends Dec. 1.

Wed., Nov. 21, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., 2007