Interview with

At first glance your could say Leah Frasers paintings are hauntingly beautiful, so we decided to find out what goes in to making such amazing images

What is your name and where are you located?
My name is Leah Fraser. I am based in Redfern at the moment.Where did you learn your craft?
I studied at the college of fine arts but i have been painting my whole life really. It is one of those things i can’t remember not doing.

What is your artistic medium of choice? Why that medium?
I have been working in ink and water colour on paper primarily. i am attracted to the fluidity and the immediacy of those mediums. i need immediacy because of the way i work – i don’t like anything to be too premeditated i like the ideas to flow organically during the process. Also i think the quality of water colour in particular lends a certain ethereal quality to the works which is consistent with my style and the themes of my paintings

Have you always been focused in this particular area?
i guess i have. I try different things all the time – i made a giant horse with fabric and resin in this last exhibition for instance – but i seem to always return mostly to ink and water colour. i don’t know, i think you have to do what feels right at the time but on the whole those two are just what comes most naturally to me.

Whose work do you relate to most? Who inspires you?
Artists like Francesco Clemente, Kiki Smith and Joy Hester. There are way too many to list but in general I like works that tell a story and are highly expressive but yet simple in form. I think there is something really beautiful in being able to say so much with so little. Of course that does not just apply to visual artists, i’m constantly finding inspiration in literature, music, film and just the world around me. i’m really into folk tales and children’s stories too.

How do you want other people to respond to your art?
i don’t know, i wouldn’t want to prescribe a reaction for people. i would like to think that everyone does get at least something out of it, but i think that is and should be something personal for each individual. When i’m working i just want to tell a story, but not in a way that is fixed. i want the viewer to fill in the gaps, to use their imagination.

What motivates/inspires your work?
Well there are those cultural influences i mentioned before but i guess i would have to say that my biggest inspiration is always my life, or whatever is going on in it at the time. I find that painting is really cathartic for me and whatever comes out is invariably a reflection of what has been happening around me or in my head at the time. i don’t really plan it, it just happens that way. i think thats a good thing – keeps me sane.

Do you paint or draw to music?
Always; and on repeat. I get obsessed with songs like i get obsessed with the things i feel like painting. i will keep on listening to a song or keep painting a certain thing until i feel i am done with it and then i move on. Except for Bob Dylan, i’ll never move on from him.

The figures in your paintings seem to have a deep sorrow or loneliness in their eyes, can you give us an insight into the reasoning behind this?
I think the expression is not necessarily indicative of loneliness or sorrow but more generally just an intensity of emotion. Sure some of it is about sadness, but it doesn’t have to be in a bad way. i think expression is the important thing in my works: as long as you are feeling something, it doesn’t really matter what that is exactly. I have been sad before, but i see my happiness in my paintings just as much as the sad.

Is it better to love or be loved?
Tough question. I think i’ll dodge it and say that you can’t really have one without the other, because if you have just one then it sucks either way.

related links

www.blackandbluegallery.com.au

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Tags: black and blue gallery, leah fraser