Drawn/Taped/Burned: Abstraction on Paper » John Fraser

John Fraser on Nicole Fein

Rachel Nackman — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:24:21 +0000

1). Self-reliance: heart / mind / eye / hand.
Mastery of the most fugitive of media: watercolor.

2). Required Tools: pigment, suspension, brush, support, and SELF.

3). Process: Breathe in…breathe out. Touch with loaded brush. Reload and repeat until a stasis is discovered. By being present. By being human. By being a vehicle.

4). Result: Meditative beauty from nothing. Order and clarity from discipline. Calm from struggle. Large from small.
The elimination of the inessential. A hard-won structure.

In pursuit of the exquisite, with quiet, humble restraint.

What was found resulting from the activity itself.

Breathe in…breathe out.

Elena del Rivero on John Fraser

Rachel Nackman — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:25:55 +0000

A shape resembling a ruler is placed in the middle of two rectangular sheets of paper making a cross. This shape is made mostly of paper, but I also see different textures, some tarlatan and fabric as well. The materials blend together as if by the sheer magic of an architect’s mind; the result is a beautiful, constructed drawing, an exquisite mixed media formalistic collage on Japanese paper. While its strength may be geometry, there is also a refined subtlety of color that draws me closer to the work.

John Fraser on Esteban Vicente

Rachel Nackman — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:01:14 +0000

Esteban Vicente’s work is improvisational, like that of many of his contemporaries. His paintings are dominated by atmosphere, suggestion, and gesture. In comparison, his investigations in collage yielded more direct physical findings, resulting from additive and subtractive processes.

Shapes dominate this intimate, restrained collage. Together they evidence a series of decisions–a union of forms that now exists both as metaphor and as strict, abstract composition. Employing a builder’s logic, Vicente placed shape upon shape; altering, replacing, and working them with wet and dry touch. An equilibrium was achieved–no, found–via a push and pull…a call and response…a communication between sight and insight.

A quiet, condensed air exists in this collage. Value and hue are in balanced accord, the whole being a sum of its parts. What is seen and felt here, having been coaxed out of remnant material–the skin of paper.