neil frazer

milford galleries queenstown9A Earl Street (03) 442 6896 [email protected]

10th July - 4th August, 2010UPSTAIRS GALLERY

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

NEIL FRAZERSNOW, ROCK, SAND

1. NEIL FRAZER, Cold Shoulder (Study) (2007)

oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 915 x 915 x 25 mm

2. NEIL FRAZER, Passageway (2006)

oil & acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1370 x 1370 x 30 mm

3. NEIL FRAZER, Shadow Line (2007)

oil over acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1522 x 1524 x 34 mm

4. NEIL FRAZER, Divider (2007)


5. NEIL FRAZER, Chill Factor (2008)


6. NEIL FRAZER, Watchman (2008), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1375 x 1373 x 28 mm

7. NEIL FRAZER, Black Sand Ridge (2008)

acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1529 x 1529 x 24 mm

8. NEIL FRAZER, Black Sand Peak (2006/08)


9. NEIL FRAZER, Black Sand Valley (2008)


10. NEIL FRAZER, Cove (2008), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1020 x 1018 x 27 mm

11. NEIL FRAZER, Chisel Back (2008), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1020 x 1018 x 27 mm

All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition

E X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S T 1 Cold Shoulder (Study) (2007) 6,500

2 Passageway (2006) 13,500

3 Shadow Line (2007) 16,000

4 Divider (2007) 16,000

5 Chill Factor (2008) 16,000

6 Watchman (2008) 13,500

7 Black Sand Ridge (2008) 16,000

8 Black Sand Peak (2006/08) 16,000

9 Black Sand Valley (2008) 16,000

10 Cove (2008) 8,500

11 Chisel Back (2008) 8,500

Neil Frazer has pioneered a method and style in his work which is unique – he uses

abstract expressionist techniques, sculptor’s volume, and painter’s depth as

components of the building process. A duality of spatial illusion and material literalness

sits at the very heart of his masterful paintings and because of this they come to both

describe and reveal.

He achieves the remarkable combination of pictorial realism, accuracy of belief and

the unique specifics of place. It is as if each painting has been hewn and built from the

fundamental essences and very materials of each place depicted, and so each work

has profound physical substance, three-dimensionality and enormity of scale. There are

sophisticated textural dialogues established through varied marks and a commanding

use of impasto painting techniques. He uses negative space as a silhouette and implies

the sky in this way.

This exhibition combines two distinct bodies of work – the Southern Alps and the

seashore – and demonstrates that the artist moves completely convincingly from one to

the other. Each work has individual characteristics and delivery – line of sight, for

example, varies significantly – as Frazer establishes the fact and specifics of place with

the fiction of paint.

In every work, Frazer traverses the pictorial traditions of landscape painting with

techniques deeply informed by abstract painting techniques and in this manner he has

completely reinvigorated it. It is no exaggeration to state that his vision and delivery is

so convincingly stated and delivered as to be utterly unlike any other that has

preceded it.

Neil Frazer 2010 CV milford galleries queenstown www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

P a g e | 1

NEIL FRAZER b. 1961, lives Sydney

Neil Frazer ‘Chisel Back’ (2008)

Although the surfaces of Neil Frazer’s paintings owe something to the American abstract expressionist

movement of the 1950s, he has developed a deeply personal approach to the medium. “The oddly

compelling nature of Neil Frazer’s body of work is not solely the result of his handling of paint. The power

of the works hinges on his creation of a duality of spatial illusion and material literalness on a scale that is

all-involving. The picture plane is rendered elusive, replaced by optical recession and tactile fact,

resisting a complete assimilation of the image. The works all operate on this frontal/recessive

contradiction, evoking simultaneously thick, constructive curtains of paint and veiled depths.”1

In Frazer’s large-scale oil paintings, paint is often laid in thick impasto so that it protrudes from the

canvas. “Frazer works his canvases on the vertical, attached to the wall, and applies the paint in a

variety of ways, including rags, brushes and his own hands. Often in the later stages, he flicks the paint

with his fingers straight from the tube onto the canvas, the twist of his wrist creating regular, bright loops

of colour which articulate the surface of the painting, erupting away from the receding nebulous tones

of the background.”2

Neil Frazer: “I’m not trying to make paintings that solve world problems or hold out a mirror to society,

but I believe painting has the power to provoke thought and feeling and can make a positive

contribution”. 3

Frazer was born in Canberra Australia in 1961 and moved to New Zealand in 1965. He completed a

Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch in 1985. He attended the New York

Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, New York, USA in 1986. He graduated with a Master of

Fine Arts from the College of Fine Arts, Sydney, Australia in 2000. Neil has had 30 solo exhibitions in New

Zealand and Australia since 1984. He has received many premier awards and fellowships in New

Zealand and Australia, including the 1992 Frances Hodgkin’s Fellowship at the University of Otago. His

work is included in most major public, corporate and private collections in New Zealand including the

National Bank, Fletcher Challenge and the Robert McDougall Art Gallery.

1. Lisa Beaven, ‘Neil Frazer Recent Paintings’, Art New Zealand 66, Autumn 1993.

2. Felicity Milburn, ‘Neil Frazer: Stretched to the Limit’, McDougall Art Annex, 1996.

3. Neil Frazer quoted in Michael McHugh ‘Opposites Attract’ FQ Entertaining, Winter, 1998.


P a g e | 2

NEIL FRAZER b. 1961, lives Sydney

EDUCATION 2000 Master of Fine Arts, College of Fine Arts, Sydney, Australia

1986 New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture, New York, USA

1985 Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury, Ilam School of Fine Arts, Christchurch

SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selected from 1993) 2010 Snow, Rock, Sand, milford galleries queenstown

Neil Frazer, Philip Bacon Galleries, Queensland

2008 Melt, milford galleries queenstown

Bowen Galleries, Wellington

Perfect Day, milford galleries queenstown

Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney, Australia

2007 Selected Works 1996 – 2007, Milford Galleries Auckland Southern Elevations, milford galleries queenstown

milford galleries auckland


2006 View Finder, Milford Galleries Dunedin

milford Galleries auckland

2005 Recent Paintings- Milford Galleries Dunedin



2004 Super Nature, Milford Galleries Dunedin

Recent Abstract Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin



Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch

2003 New Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin

Bowen Gallery, Wellington


2002 Michael Carr Gallery, Sydney, Australia


2001 Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch

2000 Michael Carr Gallery, Sydney, Australia

1999 Olsen Carr Gallery, Sydney, Australia

1998 milford galleries auckland

1997 Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch

1996 Robert Mc Dougall Art Annex, Survey Exhibition, Christchurch

Brooker Gallery, Wellington

Milford Galleries Dunedin

1995 Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Brooker Gallery, Wellington

1994 Luba Bilu Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand

1993 Hocken Library Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand

Luba Bilu Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selected from 1993) 2009 Southern Traverse, milford galleries queenstown

Southern Landscape, milford galleries queenstown

2007 Looking South, Milford Galleries Dunedin


P a g e | 3

Auckland Art Fair, milford galleries auckland

2006 Chosen - Milford Galleries Dunedin

Location South - Milford Galleries Dunedin

A Feeling for Space, the Landscape Now- Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney, Australia

Postcards from the Desert, Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney, Australia

In the Heat of Summer, Martin Browne Fine Art Sydney, Australia

2004 OverView; Abstraction & Still Life, Milford Galleries Dunedin

ABN AMRO Art Award, Finalist, Sydney, Australia

Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne, Australia

Visiting Artist, Norsewear Art Awards, Hastings, Auckland

2003 New England Art Gallery, NSW, Australia

James Wallace Art Award Finalist, Auckland, New Zealand

Martin Browne Fine Art Sydney, Australia

Norsewear Art Award Guest Artist, Hastings, New Zealand

Art Gallery of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia

2002 Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne

2001 Over the Back Fence, Bowen Galleries, Christchurch

1998 Art for Life Charity Auction, Christchurch, New Zealand

40 out 40, McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch

1994 Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne

Recent Acquisitions, Canterbury University

AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES

2008 Fleurieu Water Prize finalist

2004 ABN AMRO Art Award, Finalist, Sydney

2003 James Wallace Art Award Finalist, Auckland

Norsewear Art Award Guest Artist, Hastings

1993 Victoria College of the Arts, Artist in Residence at the Dunmoochin Foundation,

Melbourne, Australia

Awarded Artist Residency at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia

1993 Artist in Residency Victoria College of the Arts, Melbourne

1992 Francis Hodgkins Fellowship, Otago University, Dunedin, New Zealand

1986 New Zealand Arts Councils Grant

1986 Fulbright Travel Grant for study New York Studio School

1984 Sawtell Turner Painting Prize, Canterbury University, Christchurch, New Zealand

1983 Ethel Rose Overton Scholarship, Canterbury University, Christchurch, New Zealand

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Macquarie Bank Collection, Sydney, Australia

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Christchurch, New Zealand

Dunmoochin Foundation, Melbourne, Australia

St George Foundation, Sydney, Australia

Baker & McKenzie, Sydney, Australia

Manawatu Art Gallery, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Lincoln College Art Collection, Christchurch, New Zealand

National Bank Art Collection, New Zealand

Otago University Collection, Dunedin, New Zealand

Victoria University Collection, Wellington, New Zealand

Hocken Library Collection, Dunedin, New Zealand

Deloittes Collection, Auckland, New Zealand

Electro Corporation, Wellington, New Zealand

Victoria University Collection, Wellington, New Zealand

RECENT ARTICLES

2008 Duggan, Donna ‘White Out’ Mind Food , April 2008 (attached)

2006 Hynes, Victoria ‘Two Up’ Australian Art Review, issue 12, November 2006

neil frazer

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