surfaced used: board, paper, and copper
mediums used: oils, graphite
A link to the artist’s personal website: http://www.sfraser.com/
On line and land based galleries: Gallery 1261 in downtown Denver, Colorado. http://www.gallery1261.com/html_artists/fraser/fraser.htm
J. Cacciola Gallery in New York, New York. http://www.jcacciolagallery.com/scott-fraser
Jenkins Johnson Gallery in New York and San Francisco. http://www.jenkinsjohnsongallery.com/artists/fraser/fraser_main.html
He was born in 1957 Evanston, Illinois . The artist attended college at the Kansas City Art Institute, University of Colorado at Denver, as well as in Germany. It was in Germany where he learned the process of glazing. The artist was influenced by a wide variety of painters such as Lucien Freud, Vermeer, Van Dyck, Vander Wyden, Joseph Cornell, Paul Klee, and Frank Auerbach. He was also influenced by some London painters such as Francis Bacon whose face has even appeared in works by Fraser. He credits seeing works by Bacon at the Tate and also in Spain as pushing to make the artist’s work more narrative. The artist was also inspired by Spanish artists Lopez Garcia and Isabella Quintnilla.
The artist went to Europe in his mid twenties and fell in love with the Dutch and Flemish painters of the 1600s. His favorite Vermeer painting is “Woman Pouring Milk.” Its awesome to see so many different styles that were influenced by the same Renaissance artists. Wayne Thiebaud, whom I wrote about just days ago, also loved Vermeer and thought his paintings made time stop due to the lack of sharp edges and light glazes of color.
The artist is a slow painter, as is anyone that uses so many glazes, and for the most part paints smaller works many measuring less than 16 inches on a side. His works on copper are very small but highly detailed. The artist finds he learns more from large paintings so he tries one or two paintings that he spends up to one year to complete! The drawings takes months alone to complete. He enjoys painting a wide variety of textures.
I enjoy the humor also in the artist’s work. Goldfish that young children eat are swimming in space sometimes. Hershey kisses are flying on the board. Although he can render an object with a high level of detail what impresses me most is his design using repeating shapes with light glazes of many colors. The artist paints in light acrylics first to see how the art will look when finished. He then finishes the work with layer upon layer of oils I learned this from the artist. Its easier to make changes working this way because the acrylics dries so fast.
Art task of the day: Before you eat all your Easter candy please save piece of chocolate and try to paint it. Take a couple of days and see if you can really sink your teeth into it!
I started a new job yesterday so didn’t finish this in time to post so I will post another artist later today!
Happy painting!
D
In the artist’s studio hangs a rose he painted when he was only 3 years old. I myself designed many plates when I was little and now use my favorite plate as my palette for my acrylic paints! I think we as artists should always have some works that we made at early ages around to remind us of what level we started at.
The artist is well known for his botanical and food paintings. His Animal crackers come to life and are dancers on a public stage. Another favorite subject of the artist are Hershey’s chocolate kisses. These are incredible for their reflected light. The artist makes well detailed drawings in graphite before he starts the painting. As a trompe painter he enjoys the challenge of giving ordinary objects life.
His works are included in many museum collections.
Diattaart Blog 