November Issue 1999
Charleston Exhibit Celebrates West Fraser's Banner Year
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As 1999 draws to a close, noted American plein air painter and Charleston, SC, resident West Fraser can look back at an enormously successful year. Popular as well as critical acclaim and rocketing sales have defined the artist's year, and a new exhibition of his most recent works will commemorate the achievement. Seen and Unseen, a collection of mesmerizing canvases transcribing the Southern landscape, opens Nov. 5 at the Charleston Renaissance Gallery, in Charleston. The show will hang through the end of the year.
The past twelve months have seen Fraser's star continue to rise. Later this month, the SC State Museum will honor him as part of their millennium exhibition, 100 Years / 100 Artists. This exhibition pays homage to South Carolina's most influential twentieth century artists. In July, Fraser was awarded the bronze prize at the prestigious Laguna Plein Air Painters Association invitational, a competition featuring fifty of the nation's leading impressionist painters. The year has also seen the release of the White House Historical Association's Year 2000 commemorative calendar. Fraser was one of fourteen American artists commissioned to produce an original work in recognition of the two hundredth anniversary of the President's residence.
Seen and Unseen showcases plein air landscapes - featuring both South Carolina and North Carolina scenes - for which Fraser is most widely recognized, as well as several Charleston streetscapes. Rob Hicklin, owner of the Charleston Renaissance Gallery and Fraser's exclusive representative, considers Fraser's uncanny ability to observe and record what others simply do not or cannot see: "In some cases, my senses are simply not keenly enough attuned to the color, light and place before me. Perhaps if I stopped and studied, I'd notice the details that are so much a part of the bigger picture. But then again, even when I do apply myself to the subject at hand, there are visual facts and invisible truths that are not revealed to me. For though I surely have sight, I am not graced with an artist's vision. After all, few of us are. Seen and unseen, West Fraser is open to it all and generously shares it with those of us who see not, but long to."
Charleston Renaissance
Gallery
Fraser's show will serve as the cornerstone
event in the Charleston Renaissance Gallery's first offering to
the inaugural Charleston Fine Arts Annual, scheduled for Nov.
5 - 7. Sponsored by eight of Charleston's leading art venues,
the three-day event is designed to celebrate the participating
galleries' mutual enthusiasm for the visual arts.
For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings
or call the gallery at 843/723-0025.
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
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