Roland Fraser
“Roland Fraser is not your average art school graduate. His work reflects the experience of his own journey into art, mixing the art historian’s expertise and eye with skilled craftsmanship, and an increasing boldness in his artwork. The constructions in stripped, pale colours give his work a depth that draws you in, subtle and deeply satisfying.”
Tim Cornwell, arts editor, The Scotsman.My wooden constructions are a synthesis of assemblage, collage and traditional craftsmanship. Timber is culled from old furniture carcases, farm buildings and skips. I select pieces that have an accumulation of surface markings and general evidence of human traffic. Traces from missing locks, hinges and structural joints also have a particular resonance for me as they refer to previous incarnations. This visceral combination of wear and history imbues the material with an almost totemic quality.
The titles of each work refer to the various locations where the fragments used in the work were found, as in ‘Prestongrange’ and ‘Longthorne’. In some of my pieces, the connection between the place and the mood of my work is significant, in others it is more arbitrary.
The splicing and editing of original patinated surfaces to create a recontextualised single entity throws up serious formal challenges. As a musician, these dynamics of rhythm, tension and discord are familiar territory.