Pamela Fraser: Works on Paper
@ GOLDEN
816 W Newport Ave, Chicago, IL 60657
Opening Friday, February 26th, from 6PM - 9PM
On view through Saturday, March 27th
Over the past fifteen years Pamela Fraser has established herself as one of the States’ standout abstract painters, and is known for making “seemingly casual arrangements” that are “more deliberately made than you initially think.” Her past works, always presented on pristinely prepared canvases, suggested minimalism but often with humorous twists. They are testaments to the artists in-depth inquiry into design and rhythm, as well as her continual interest with the historical status of painting. In current work, the infinitely complex subject of color, especially the fallibility of color systems, has become a central investigation.
Fraser will present eight newly framed works of gouache and acrylic paintings on polypropylene, a plastic paper that mimics the artists immaculately primed canvases. Frasers practice has recently taken an exciting turn; what was once a slow & painstaking painting process has evolved into a much more automatic approach. Described by the artist as “monuments to moments,” these compositions resonate immediate energy and resist strict, accurate, or logical measurements. They are the intuitive product of Frasers career as a painter and professor of color theory & studio art. These new works on paper are a part of a larger body of work that is occupied with an illogic (use) of color, which is further compounded with quickly executed imagery.
Intriguing color combinations, shapes, and patterns emerge out of Fraser’s immersion in the historicity of visual perception and comparative color theories. Simultaneously inspired by–yet rebellious against–graphs, pie charts, and color wheels, the artist uses these devices as source material for her work, as well as some recurring motifs she borrows from the world of design, like the stylized snowflake. The brilliantly colored geometric forms found in this series spontaneously explode onto the paper, revealing an unexpected turn from Fraser, but this new territory becomes quickly familiar because we soon realize that it is done with the same “anarchistic gusto” and reductive simplicity that only she is capable of achieving.
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