exhibitions

prints

15 February – 4 March 2018

about the exhibition

David Frazer’s artwork explores the themes of truth, despair and the emotional and fragile state of the human condition with his characteristic imagination and wit. Apart from pursuing these ideas through quite literal depictions, David also uses the landscape as a metaphor, as illustrated in his largest print to date, ‘Slow boat’, which took four months to complete: “I worked from one part of the block and moved outwards and around, the image growing organically. This luxuriantly detailed print depicts an out of place rowboat, deteriorating in a dry Australian landscape, no longer seaworthy but becoming part of both the arid land it is left in, and the focal point for me to weave a narrative of love and loss.” Complementing this extraordinary print is the ‘happy hour’ suite, as well as David’s latest hand-made artist book and broadsheet collaborations. The ‘happy hour’ suite is a series of small engravings portraying lost and confused men and with humour and pathos giving a comical irony to the series title. The two broadsheets are collaborations with Don Walker of Cold Chisel fame, in which David has interpreted the song lyrics creating intimate wood engravings. The eighteen wood engravings created in response to the song “pool (major)” have been bound to create the limited edition artist book. Although David’s work is typically Australian, the story is universal, drawing tensions between survival and hope, vitality and emptiness in images that are both poignant, mildly unsettling but entirely captivating.

Born in country Victoria, David Frazer graduated from the Phillip Institute of Technology, Melbourne with a Fine Art degree specialising in painting. In 1996 he achieved an Honours degree from Monash University specialising in Printmaking and, in 2000, gained his Master of Arts. David was a featured Australian artist in the ABC’s 2007 documentary series ‘Artist at Work’. In 2013, he was the recipient of a Silk Cut Award acquisitive prize for his linocut ‘Waiting for Rain’ which has also been included in a number of other awards and prize exhibitions. David’s largest print to date, ‘Slow boat’, received a Highly Commended at the Fremantle Print Award in 2017 and has been chosen as the People’s Choice Award winner on two different occasions. His works are represented widely across Australia and overseas in collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia, Australian War Memorial, State Library of Victoria and Chiang Mai Contemporary Art Museum of Thailand.

exhibition images

  • 1. $950 Slow boat (study II) – linocut, edition 1 of 50, 38 x 52.5cm (unframed $550)

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  • 2. $1,990 Pool – handmade artist’s book, wood engravings, edition 7 of 15

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  • 3. $1,320 Pool – broadsheet in collaboration with Don Walker, wood engraving and typeset, edition 1 of 22, 56 x 41cm (unframed $880)

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  • 4. $6,000 Slow boat – linocut, edition 20 of 50, 120 x 180cm (unframed $4,000)

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  • 5. $510 Home – wood engraving, edition 7 of 30, 7 x 7cm (unframed $330)

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  • 6. $510 Adrift – wood engraving, edition 9 of 50, 9.5 x 7cm (unframed $330)

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  • 7. $455 It could rain into the weekend – wood engraving, edition 1 of 10, 6.6 x 7.2cm (unframed $275)

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  • 8. $450 Broken – wood engraving, edition 6 of 20, 4 x 6cm (unframed $275)

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  • 9. $510 Passing Storm – wood engraving, edition 12 of 50, 7.5 x 7cm (unframed $330)

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  • 10. $620 Slow boat (study) – wood engraving, edition 23 of 35, 11 x 16cm (unframed $440)

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  • 11. $1,050 Wounded wood I – etching, edition 27 of 50, 60 x 44cm (unframed $690)

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  • 12. $950 Happy Hour II – linocut, edition 1 of 40, 39 x 25cm (unframed $550)

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  • 13. $450 The true meaning of humble – wood engraving, edition 1 of 20, 7 x 6.1cm (unframed $275)

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  • 14. $510 So sweet – wood engraving, edition 7 of 20, 9.9 x 6.1cm (unframed $330)

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  • 15. $565 Get F#!*+! – wood engraving, edition 8 of 30, 10 x 12.4cm (unframed $385)

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  • 16. $510 10 too many – wood engraving, edition 1 of 20, 6.4 x 10.1cm (unframed $330)

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  • 17. $430 Looking out at the rain, Another hour gone – wood engraving, edition 1 of 10, 5.5 x 4.5cm (unframed $250)

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  • 18. $510 Is that it? – wood engraving, edition 5 of 20, 6.3 x 9.7cm (unframed $330)

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  • 19. $430 Giving the afternoon away – wood engraving, edition 1 of 10, 5.4 x 4.2cm (unframed $250)

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  • 20. $510 Happy Hour – wood engraving, edition 1 of 10, 7.5 x 9.9cm (unframed $330)

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  • 21. $1,900 Wounded wood II – linocut, edition 4 of 50, 82 x 69cm (unframed $1,400)

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  • 22. $1,320 Flame Trees – broadsheet in collaboration with Don Walker, wood engraving and typeset, edition 7 of 20, 50 x 33cm (unframed $880)

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  • 23. $860 Silos – words by Don Walker, wood engraving and typeset, edition 1 of 25, 26 x 10cm (unframed $480)

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