olivia fraser catalogue

Olivia Fraser

Subtle Bodies

1000 Petals, 2013

stone pigment and Arabic gum on handmade Sanganer paper, 66 x 66 cm

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Subtle Bodies

Olivia Fraser

Art 18/21

The Old Skating Rink Gallery

34-36 Bethel Street

Norwich

NR2 1NR

UK

Exhibition

15th May – 21

st June 2014

Gallery open 9:30am – 5:00pm Mon to Sat and by appointment

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India suits the artist Olivia Fraser and her new paintings stand testimo-ny to this. In her most recent works the compelling images succinctly convey the layers of meanings that have been visually pared-back by the artist. These subtle paintings incorporate the most complex ideas from Indian arts and declare that Fraser also suits India very well in-deed.

It does not take long for an artist arriving in North India to be confront-ed with the practice commonly called ‘miniature painting’. Very few, however take the path chosen by Fraser who explains, ‘As an outsider who is not Indian, it was never an option for me to paint "traditional miniatures". It seemed clear to me to try and bring the two traditions together in my paintings and to try and fuse the profundity and histori-cal layers of meaning and aesthetic precision of one tradition and mix it with the imaginative expressiveness and explorations into movement and perception of the Contemporary West’.

Fraser’s work is predicated on the process of miniature painting. Each year she returns to Jaipur, the capital of miniature painters and the centre where Fraser gathers her very specific and precious materials. Natural pigments crushed to a fine powder and thickened for use with gum Arabic are applied with squirrel hair brushes to hand-made San-ganer papers and burnished with an agate stone.

Describing the process Fraser explains, ‘I use stones pigments (mixed with Arabic gum) which are ground from rocks sold in the markets in Jaipur. I use semi-precious stones like malachite and lapis lazuli. Jai-pur is the centre of the gem industry in India and has a lot of gem off-cuts that are used by the local artists. I also use chalk pigments from the Aravalli Hills around Jaipur and plant pigments like indigo sourced from South India. I like to use my colours without mixing them with oth-er colours so you get the pure intense colour. I find that all these col-ours have a fabulous natural intensity which is emphasized by the pro-cess of burnishing which is part of the miniature painting technique. You burnish the painting with an agate stone and this fuses and flat-tens the pigment which then glows like polished stone on your page. This is why miniature paintings are best seen when held in the hand as this facilitates the play of light glinting off the stone colours’. For Fraser this journey mirrors the ritual inherent in her practice. She allows herself to be controlled by process, an innate desire for the quiet meditative repetition that sits not just in this process but in the act of painting and in the marks that this action makes, as she seeks iterated perfection in her paintings.

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At first glance Fraser’s paintings give the viewer something easy-to-spot, for the eye to rest on and the brain to em-brace, a familiarity that gives a sense of satisfaction. This satisfaction is then heightened, as like the artist we the viewer are excited by this repetition of imagery. The symbolism that Fraser uses in her paintings go right back through the complex histories of the Subcontinent as the artist breathes new life into easily recognizable forms such as lotus flowers, trees, moun-tains, rivers and cows. The Subtle Bodies is an apt reference for Fraser’s latest paintings as it is a concept with culturally diverse and layered meanings. In the Subcontinent it refers to the search for union with the Absolute, showing the macrocosm of the universe within the micro-cosm of the self. Based in India for the last 10 years, Fraser’s imagery is steeped in the traditional iconography of the Indian landscape around her but she uses it to describe the sensation of the meditative process. Where Warhol was trying to achieve the expunging of meaning Fraser is interested in how a more Eastern version of this "emptiness" which War-hol strives for, can be expressed along with its positive associations with enlightenment. Fraser explains, ‘I feel Yoga is the perfect vehicle for this expression: there is a deeply visual side to this very breath-centric form of spirituality. Colour, shape (often in the form of lotuses) and movement (both physical and mental) are at the root of this extraordinary rich tradi-tion of meditation and I am interested in exploring this pictorially using my hybrid background as a starting point.’ The exhibition displays a mixture of paintings on hand-made paper and limited- edition prints made during the last couple of years and the work announces Fraser’s emergence from the shadows of her famous fore-bear James Baillie Fraser and ultimately confirms Fraser as a great art-ist in her own right.

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Krishna I, 2010

Lithograph

Signed, dated and number out of 100

Published by Grosvenor Gallery Fine Arts Ltd.

68.5 x 45.7 cm

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Krishna II, 2010

Lithograph

Signed, dated and number out of 100

Published by Grosvenor Gallery Fine Arts Ltd.

68.5 x 45.7 cm

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Krishna III, 2010

Lithograph

Signed, dated and number out of 100

Published by Grosvenor Gallery Fine Arts Ltd.

68.5 x 45.7 cm

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Krishna I, II, III, 2010

Triptych

Lithograph

Signed, dated and number out of 100

Published by Grosvenor Gallery Fine Arts Ltd.

68.5 x 45.7 cm each

68.5 x 137.1 cm overall

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Banyan Tree, 2010

Lithograph

Signed, dated and number out of 100

Published by Grosvenor Gallery Fine Arts Ltd.

68.5 x 45.7 cm

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Triptych: Mount Meru, 2010

Pigment, Arabic gum, gold leaf

On handmade Sanganer paper

47 x 47 cm each panel

47 x 141 cm overall

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Pilgrimage, 2010-2011

Gouache and Indian pigments on paper

Each panel 75 x 75 cm

Consists of 9 individual panels

225 x 225 cm overall

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Radha Krishna, 2011

Pigment, Arabic gum on handmade Sanganer paper

63 x 63 cm each

63 x 126 cm overall

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Essence, 2012

Stone pigment and Arabic gum

On handmade Sanganer paper

27 x 27 cm each

27 x 81 cm overall

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Lotus, 2012

Etching on Japanese rice paper

Signed, dated and numbered out of 50

38 x 36.5 cm

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Blue Dawn, 2012

Screenprint on 410gsm Somerset tub size paper

Signed, dated and numbered out of 100

Published by the Grosvenor Gallery Fine Arts Ltd

77.4 x 75.8 cm

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Red Dawn, 2012

Screenprint on 410gsm Somerset tub size paper

Signed, dated and numbered out of 100

Published by the Grosvenor Gallery Fine Arts Ltd

77.4 x 75.8 cm

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Blue Dawn and Red Dawn, 2012

As a Diptych

Screenprint on 410gsm Somerset tub size paper

Signed, dated and numbered out of 100

Published by the Grosvenor Gallery Fine Arts Ltd

77.4 x 75.8 cm each

77.4 x 151.6 cm overall

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Chakra-I, 2013

Stone pigment and Arabic gum

On handmade Sanganer paper

63.5 x 63.5 cm

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Chakra-II, 2013

Stone pigment and Arabic gum

On handmade Sanganer paper

63.5 x 63.5 cm

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1000 Petals, 2013

Stone pigment and Arabic gum

On handmade Sanganer paper

66 x 66 cm

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For more information please contact:

Art 18/21

The Old Skating Rink Gallery

34-36 Bethel Street

Norwich

NR2 1NR

United Kingdom

Email: laura@art1821.com

Tel: +44 (0) 1603 763345

Mob: +44 (0) 7879673419

+91 9958644810 (India)

Web: www.art1821.com